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THOUGHTS AND AFFECTIONS ON 
THE PASSION. 



THOUGHTS AND AFFECTIONS 
ON THE PASSION OF 
JESUS CHRIST 

FOR EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR 

TAKEN FROM HOLY^SCRIPTURE AND THE WRITINGS 
OF THE FATHERS OF THE CHURCH 

By Fra Gaetano M. da Bergamo, Capuchin 
Translated from the Italian 



NEW YORK CINCINNATI CHICAGO 

BENZIGER BROTHERS 

Printers to the Holy Apostolic See 
1905 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Co Dies Received 

FEB 15 1906 

/] Copyright Entry 
CLASS CC XXc. No 
1 COPY' B/ 



Jmprtmatttr* 



REMIGIUS LAFORT, 



Censor Librorvm 



+ JOHN M. FARLEY, D.D., 

Archbishop of New York 



New York, November 21, 1905. 



Copyright, i90.">, by BEKZIOEl^ Krothfrs. 



tEo tyte eminence 3|ame$ Car&mai <£rtbbon£ t 

Archbishop of Baltimore, 



THE NEW TRANSLATION 

o? 

THOUGHTS AND AFFECTIONS ON THE PASSION 
OF JESUS CHRIST 

IS GB.ATEFULLY AND AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED 
BY THE 

PASSIONIST FATHERS OF THE 
UNITED STATES 



FOREWORD. 



In bringing out a new translation of Fra Gaetano M. da 
Bergamo's THOUGHTS AND AFFECTIONS ON THE 
PASSION OF JESUS CHRIST, a few explanatory re- 
marks may not be amiss. 

Our primary object is to rescue from oblivion a valuable 
work that has for many years been out of print. In the 
second place, by its reproduction to increase devotion to the 
sacred Passion of our crucified Redeemer. 

By graciously accepting the dedication of our new trans- 
lation of Father Bergamo's popular treatise, Cardinal Gib- ' 
bons has added another link to the chain of affectionate 
gratitude that binds the Passionists of the United States 
to His Eminence. At all times he has been to them a 
devoted friend. In their manifold labors throughout the 
country, they have ever found in him a kind adviser and 
zealous patron, — a true father and guide. 

The hierarchy, the clergy, religious, as also the laity, de- 
vout to the Passion of our blessed Lord, will, we trust, read 
this new translation with profit to their souls in this life 
and for the life to come. 

St. Michael's Retreat, West Hoboken, N. J., 
Feast of St. Paul of the Cross, 1905. 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 



In this little work I have drawn out reflections on the 
Passion of Jesus Christ for every day of the year, but I 
could find no title properly to express its character and 
object. At last I decided to use the words " Thoughts and 
Affections" which to me appeared the most appropriate. 
I had a reason for not wishing to call it a book of medita- 
tions; namely, that it might the more readily be perused 
by certain persons who imagine that thinking is common 
to all, but that meditation belongs only to a few, and who 
on this supposition throw aside as unfit for them any 
spiritual book offered under the name of meditations. 

There is no doubt that meditation, if rightly understood, 
means something more than thinking; for we say of our 
mind that it thinks even when it wanders and is distracted 
and apprehends objects present to it but superficially. 
Whilst it cannot be said to meditate, unless with mature 
deliberation it ruminates and penetrates things, so as to 
arrive, under the guidance of reason, at a knowledge of 
some truth. Nevertheless, though these Thoughts are, in 
fact, real meditations, I do not call them by that name, 
because meditation always requires labor and study ; where- 
as, if any one desires to make use of this work, he will not 
be obliged to draw for himself from the holy mysteries con- 
templated the practical truths by which he should regulate 
his life, since he will find in it, well prepared, what his 
understanding would be forced to do by means of consid- 
erations, reflections, and reasoning. 

We must observe that meditation to bear fruit must be 
accompanied with prayer. Therefore, it is important that 
we correct the mistake of those who imagine that medita- 
tion and mental prayer are identical. No; meditation is 
one thing, prayer another. In meditation we exercise the 



X 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE 



understanding; in prayer, the will. In meditation the 
soul is recollected in itself ; in prayer it is lifted up to God. 
In meditation the mind is occupied with thoughts; in 
prayer the heart is excited to affections. You may medi- 
tate as long as you please and upon the most sublime sub- 
jects ; but such meditation will be of small profit if you do 
not proceed to prayer by producing affections suitable to 
your thoughts. Meditation is necessary as a preparation 
for prayer, since it is by means of thoughts that the affec- 
tions are awakened and inflamed. On the other hand, 
prayer is requisite to give to meditation its efficacy and 
fruit. This is the end of meditation, that the will should 
be moved, then the affections, so that the truth may not 
only be known, but loved. Hence the errors of those here- 
tics who dared assert that there was no necessity either to 
apply our thoughts to the Passion of Jesus Christ, or to 
exercise our affections upon it, have been condemned. 

What, then, is the proper definition of prayer ? Simply 
this : As meditation is to think seriously on the things of 
God, so prayer is the devout turning of oneself to God by 
pious and humble affections. Praising, admiring, adoring 
God; fearing and loving God; trusting and hoping in 
God; humbling and resigning oneself to God; delighting 
in God ; grieving over the offences committed against God ; 
compassionating the Man-God in His pains and ignomin- 
ies; endeavoring to imitate Him. All this is prayer, be- 
cause it is a turning of oneself to God by the affections of 
the will. And as meditation no less than prayer should be 
directed to the well-ordering of our life, which consists in 
shunning evil and adhering to good; so, in a general way, 
we may say of affections, that they are various movements 
of the will, — loving, desiring, seeking, and resolving either 
to acquire some virtue or to correct or avoid some vice. 

This, therefore, is the substance of these Thoughts and 
Affections on the Passion of Jesus Christ. You will find 
in them no high flights of the soul by way of contempla- 
iion. 1 have followed the wise counsel of holy directors, 
who taught mo thai it is hotter to keep on the level ground 



AUTHORS PREFACE 



xi 



with safety, with merit, and with fruit, than to soar aloft 
to certain heights, which may perhaps afford more pleas- 
ure, but where assuredly there is more obscurity and 
danger. We can never work enough, and we shall never 
work in vain, at eradicating vice and acquiring virtue; 
and to this end alone the Thoughts and Affections of this 
book are directed. 

Among vices, I have endeavored in an especial way to 
attack and mortify pride, which is nothing else than an 
inordinate love of self, and the mother and source of all 
vices; among virtues, I have chosen humility and charity: 
— one being the groundwork and foundation of all virtues ; 
the other, their crown and perfection. Moreover, I have 
striven to instil into the soul those sentiments that may 
be most effectual and useful in humbling it before God, 
and advancing it in His love. 

According as the various mysteries present themselves, 
I have taken occasion to inculcate the avoidance of other 
vices, and the love of other virtues ; but I have endeavored 
to deduce from the Thoughts and Affections those fruits 
that suit all classes, making no allusion to the manifold 
duties of different states of life, but considering simply 
the state of a good Christian: so that wherever any one 
may open the book, he can not say, This does not apply to 
me. Each part suits everybody; for if every state of life 
has its special obligations, the love or the fear of God 
suffices to secure their exact fulfilment. Be the reader a 
religious or a secular, single or married, noble or plebeian, 
a superior or a subject, — humility, faith, hope, charity, 
patience, penance, prayer, contrition, mortification, obedi- 
ence, resignation to the will of God — all these virtues are 
necessary for all; and they are what I shall treat of, in a 
way suitable to all, without entering into the detail of 
various particular and private practices. 

I have subdivided the mysteries into three hundred and 
sixty-five sections, one for each day of the year, since there 
is no day on which, according to the figure of the Old Law 
left us by the Holy Ghost, our heart should not be inflamed 



A UTHOR'S PREFA CE 



with devotion to the Saviours Passion. I have marked 
neither the months nor the days, fearing that any one who 
follows the order of the days, in case he should omit this 
devout exercise for a few days, would pass over some point 
that perchance may be particularly necessary for him. If 
it please God, I shall bring out a set of Thoughts and Af- 
fections for the Principal Solemnities. Meanwhile, it will 
be advisable for me to make a few remarks concerning 
these Thoughts on the Passion. 

I. They might have been divided into three parts. In 
the first of which might be represented the Passion of the 
Heart of Jesus, tortured with an infinitude of most pain- 
ful objects, and suffering an excess of sorrow for the sins 
of the world. In the second, the Passion of His mind, 
afflicted and humbled by the pressure of the shameful out- 
rages and ignominies which He endured. In the third, 
the Passion of His body, tormented in every part by most 
excruciating and unspeakable pains. However, I have pre- 
ferred to follow the order of the Gospel history, exhibiting, 
nevertheless, according to circumstances, the character of a 
true penitent, who should be contrite of heart, through 
sorrow for his sins; humble in mind, through confusion 
for having sinned ; mortified in his passions and senses, to 
satisfy for past transgressions and to guard against com- 
mitting them anew. 

II. The object of the Thoughts and Affections is the 
Passion of Jesus, either interior or exterior. Now, I am 
well aware that the interior Passion, not having in it any- 
thing to touch the senses, is not understood by all, how- 
ever clearly it may be explained; yet it is not on that ac- 
count to be omitted, because not only is there in it beauty 
and grandeur, which, although above our power of ex- 
pression to describe, are nevertheless charming ; but it has 
for this very reason been concealed, that we may be moved 
to dwell upon it with more ingenuity. Moreover, like the 
manna enclosed in the golden urn, and placed within the 
Ark and the Sanctuary, it deserves no less that we should 
with our affections relish its sweetness, than that we should 



AUTHORS PREFACE 



xiii 



adore its mysteries. Again, as in the exercise of these 
Thoughts and Affections we always contemplate the Divin- 
ity united to the Humanity, so likewise we ought always to 
have in view the exterior Passion joined to the interior. 

III. In short, the whole trend of these Thoughts and 
Affections is to give a literal, moral, and mystic commen- 
tary, to lead the mind to the understanding of the Gospel 
history of the Passion of Jesus Christ in its three prin- 
cipal phases. I have endeavored to follow in everything 
the sentiments of Holy Scripture, and of the Fathers, and 
I have quoted the sentences to which I refer, in order to 
show that in my work there is little or nothing of my own. 
This I have done with a view to gain more fruit from my 
labors, being perfectly convinced that every thought and 
affection will obtain more credit and esteem from being 
old, than it would from being new ; and will be ruminated 
with more devotion for having sprung from the mind and 
heart of a venerable Father, eminent for learning and 
sanctity, than were it the artificial product of my flighty 
head, or an affected expression of feeling from my tepid 
heart. Therefore, I entreat any one that has a decided 
inclination for holy things, to glance kindly at these quota- 
tions when they occur ; and I promise him that he will find 
in the Latin text far more delight and unction than in my 
insipid and crude version. 1 

IV. With regard to these texts, I consider it superflu- 
ous to apologize to critics for having followed antiquity, 
according to the Summa of St. Thomas and the works of 
the Fathers, without remarking in my references what 
works are reckoned doubtful by the learned, or whether 
the editions from which I quote are old or new, as these 
same learned masters are well aware that an exemption 
from the rigor of these laws is granted to one who writes 
to gratify, not genius, but devotion, and, moreover, who 
writes on the most religious and devout of topics. 

0) It has been thought proper in this new translation to sup- 
press the Latin quotations here referred to by the Author, in 
order that the work may be more acceptable to the generality of 
readers. Translator's Note. 



xiv 



AUTHORS PREFACE 



V. With respect to the Thoughts, as the mystical his- 
tory of the Passion is briefly given by the Evangelists, we 
ought to look on every word in the holy Gospel as like that 
grain of mustard mentioned by Our Lord in the parable, 
in itself of small size, but in reality containing virtue ex- 
ceeding great, and so calculated, when sown by wisdom, to 
grow and spread without limits. There is no word on 
which various thoughts may not be produced: but great 
caution is requisite not to give to these thoughts more 
weight than authority and reason assign them. When a 
fact is related in the Gospel, and the manner of it is not 
explained, there is no doubt that, with due limitations, we 
may either represent it to ourselves or describe it to others 
in such a way as appears to us the most suitable, the most 
probable, and most proper to inspire devotion. But we 
must always use prudent discretion, and remember that 
what is not clearly stated in Holy Scripture is not to be 
received for more than it is worth, — -a simple pious thought 
of our own. 

VI. As to the mode of expression made use of in these 
Thoughts the reader must again recollect, that many forms 
of expression are tolerated in an ascetic book, though not 
precisely correct according to the literal exactness of the 
Schools. It would be unreasonable to insist on nicely 
weighing, with the scales of speculative theology, certain 
mystical phrases which are only used in a familiar way, as 
they have been by not a few of the Fathers, thus intended 
to edify the mind, and awaken holy affections in the heart. 
Still more, considering that he who writes for the good of 
souls, far from wishing to depart from the opinion of the 
holy Catholic Church, purposes rather to submit his every 
word, whatever it may be, to Her, as to the criterion of 
right and wrong. 

I ought to devote some pages in the outset to stating the 
marvelous and abundant fruits that are reaped by daily 
offering some attentive thoughts and devout affections on 
the Passion of Jesus Christ. But we say all that has been 
said by the Fathers, when we remark that this is a most 



AUTHORS PREFACE 



efficacious means to preserve us from evil, and to obtain for 
us all the treasures of grace in this present life, and of 
glory in eternity. Therefore, I shall only give two points 
of advice on the subject of the Passion to any one that 
desires to make a profitable use of the Thoughts and 
Affections. 

The first is, that he should look on the Passion, not as an 
ancient, distant event, that took place many years ago in 
Jerusalem; but as something transpiring at the present 
time, and actually seen with our own eyes. In the same 
way as we frequently picture to ourselves a person as 
present who is far away. How often will a mother, whose 
son is dead, form in her mind, after many years, so lively 
an image of him that she seems to see him in such or such 
a circumstance, as if he were really present there! How 
often will a lover represent to himself' as visible, and con- 
verse familiarly with the object of his passion, though she 
is actually in some distant land, yet to his imagination she 
is, as it were, truly in his company ! Now what nature, 
and not unfrequently sin, is wont to do, why should not 
piety also readily perform with respect to Our Lord Jesus 
Christ? As Abraham figured to himself the Saviour 
present many ages before He came into the world, so no 
less may we conceive Him present to us many ages after 
His coming, for in all ages the Saviour is one and the same ; 
since one and the same is the faith of Abraham and ours, — 
an eternal faith, embracing all ages. As Abraham saw the 
Passion of Jesus Christ, which was — in the time to come, 
and saw it by an act of faith, which rendered it present to 
him ; so by an act of faith we also can behold it, and bring 
it before us, though it happened in times past. 

That great mystery, which was ordained by the wisdom 
of God to renew the old man in us, is in itself new; that 
Passion can never be said to grow old which is not liable to 
decay, and which continually buds forth for us, and bears 
fruits of eternal life. This is the true way to meditate and 
pray ; that is, to imagine to ourselves, by the light of holy 
faith, that Jesus Christ is before us in the very position in 



xvi 



AUTHORS PREFACE 



which each mystery of His life represents Hirn, exactly as 
if we beheld Him with our eyes, either sweating blood in 
the garden, fainting beneath the scourges, writhing with 
the pain of the thorns or the nails, etc. It is by a tranquil, 
and not forced, action of the imagination that this ideal 
presence is produced. But it is by faith and thoughts and 
affections that merit and profit are drawn from it. 

The second advice is to consider this sacred Passion, not 
as though it were in the air, making speculations upon it of 
little or no utility, but with a view to practise, so that our 
thoughts may be as so many proximate preparations for 
those affections which lead to resolutions and purposes to 
put into action the virtue proposed for our contemplation. 
It is not enough simply to think of what Jesus Christ suf- 
fered ; but, in order that the thought may make a profound 
impression and move the soul, we must reflect that all His 
pains were undergone especially for us. Because, although 
in general He suffered for all, He at the same time suffered 
in such a manner for each one of us, as though each one 
had been the only sinner in the world. Hence, we are 
bound to say with the Apostle: The Son of God hath 
loved me, and hath given His life for me ; He has suffered 
no less for me individually than He has suffered in general 
for all the sons of Adam. Moreover, if He suffered only 
in general for sinners, I am the greatest sinner in His 
sight, being the most wicked and most ungrateful of all. 

There is a point that should be well understood. Name- 
ly, that the benefit of our common Redemption belongs in 
particular to each one of us, because it is from this reflec- 
tion that the strongest motives spring, and the soul feels 
itself most strictly bound to be grateful and faithful to its 
Redeemer. To assist our understanding this point, we 
have a striking and expressive figure in the sun, which 
shines not more for all men than for one man alone, and 
not less for one than it does for all. The sun enlightens 
the world, but its light, diffused as it is over all places, is 
not in consequence diminished in my regard. I enjoy the 
Fulness of it, as though in the whole world there was no 



AUTHORS PREFACE 



xvii 



one else but myself. And so it is of Jesus Christ, the 
true Sun of Justice, we all and each ought to say: He 
suffered not one pain or one wound in His Humanity 
which He did not suffer strictly for me. He shed not one 
drop of blood which was not shed for me. And I am His 
debtor for the whole of His Passion, as though He had 
endured it, not for others, but solely for me, to merit for 
me remission of sins, deliverance from hell, reconciliation 
with God, eternal happiness. 

It is true of God that, with His entire, undivided pres- 
ence, He watches over, preserves, and assists me, as if there 
were no other creature in heaven or on earth, as if He had 
no concern but to care for me. And it is no less true 
of Jesus Christ, that in all His pains, interior as well as 
exterior, He thought of and loved me, as if He had no one 
else to redeem but myself, and that He applied all His 
merits in the same way as in the Most Holy Sacrament, 
which is a memorial of His Passion, He communicates 
Himself wholly to all, as well as to me. 

Who can tell what sweet, holy, and salutary affections 
will be awakened by fixing the mind with these strong, 
touching thoughts on the Passion? In the present work 
I give but the seeds of these thoughts and affections. Who- 
ever shall sow these seeds, shall find by experience what a 
harvest he will reap; the praise and glory of which, as of 
all things, be given to the Incarnate Wisdom who opens 
the mouths of the dumb, and makes use of the weakest 
and most helpless instruments to effect His grandest mar- 
vels. Let those who read this work, in charity remember 
me in their prayers, that, in the mercy of God, what I hope 
through the merits of Jesus Christ may prove profitable 
to others, may likewise be of avail to my eternal salvation. 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE! 



Foreword vii 

Author's Preface ix 

CHAPTER I. 

Jesus Christ foretells His Passion to the Apostles 3 

CHAPTER II, 

Conspiracy of the Jews against Jesus Christ 6 

CHAPTER III. 
Jesus Christ at the Supper in Bethania 13 

CHAPTER IV. 
Entrance of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem 17 

CHAPTER V. 

Jesus Christ takes Leave of His Mother 26 

CHAPTER VI. 
Jesus Christ at His Last Paschal Supper 30 

CHAPTER VII. 
Jesus Christ washes the Feet of His Apostles 37 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Preparation for the Institution of the Most Blessed Sacra- 
ment 41 

CHAPTER IX. 
Institution of the Most Blessed Sacrament 51 

CHAPTER X. 
Jesus Christ gives the Sacrament and the Power of Con- 
secrating to His Apostles 58 

CHAPTER XL 
Zeal of Jesus Christ for the Conversion of Judas 61 

CHAPTER XII. 
Perfidy of Judas in betraying Jesus Christ 69 



XX 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER XIII. page 
Discourse of Jesus Christ after the Last Supper 78 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Jesus Christ goes with His Apostles to the Garden 87 

CHAPTER XV. 
Physical Sadness of Jesus Christ in the Garden 92 

CHAPTER XVI. 
Mental Sadness of Jesus Christ in the Garden 102 

CHAPTER XVII. 
The Apostles Asleep in the Garden 112 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
Prayer of Jesus Christ in the Garden 117 

CHAPTER XIX. 
A Consoling Angel appears to Jesus 126 

CHAPTER XX. 
Agony of Jesus Christ in the Garden 131 

CHAPTER XXI. 
Jesus Christ sweat? Blood in the Garden 140 

CHAPTER XXII. 



Two Mysteries in the Passion of Jesus Christ in the Garden 153 

CHAPTER XXIII. 
Jesus Christ in the Garden goes forth to meet His Ene- 



mies 156 

CHAPTER XXIV. 
Jesus Christ receives the Kiss from Judas 160 

CHAPTER XXV. 



Jesus Christ apprehended by His Enemies in the Garden. 167 



CHAPTER XXVI. 
Flighl of the Apostles after the Apprehension of Jesus 

Christ 178 



CONTENTS xxi 

CHAPTER XXVII. page 
Jesus Christ led from the Garden to the House of Annas. . 187 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 
Jesus Christ before the Tribunal of Annas 195 

CHAPTER XXIX. 
Jesus Christ at the Tribunal of Caiphas 207 

CHAPTER XXX. 
Jesus Christ mocked in the House of Caiphas 221 

CHAPTER XXXI. 
The Jews hold a Council for the Condemnation of Jesus. . 235 

CHAPTER XXXII. 
Jesus denied by St. Peter 241 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 
Mercy of Jesus Christ toward St. Peter 249 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 
Repentance of St. Peter after his Sin 254 

CHAPTER XXXV. 
Jesus Christ led to Pilate the Governor 262 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 
Impenitence and Despair of Judas 271 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 
Jesus Christ accused by the Jews before Pilate 279 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
Jesus Christ before the Tribunal of Pilate 285 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 
Jesus Christ accused again by the Jews 293 

CHAPTER XL. 
Jesus Christ sent from Pilate to Herod 299 

CHAPTER XLI. 
Jesus Christ presented to Herod 302 



xxii 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER XLII. page 
Jesus Christ mocked in the Court of Herod 308 

CHAPTER XLIII. 
Jesus Christ sent back from Herod to Pilate 314 

CHAPTER XLIV. 
Jesus Christ compared by Pilate to Barabbas 320 

CHAPTER XLV. 
Jesus Christ rejected by the Jews, in Favor of Barabbas . . 326 

CHAPTER XL VI. 
The Jews demand the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ 332 

CHAPTER XLVII. 
Jesus Christ resigns Himself to the Will of the Jews .... 338 

CHAPTER XLVIII. 
Jesus Christ condemned to be scourged 345 

CHAPTER XLIX. 
Jesus Christ scourged at the Pillar 351 

CHAPTER L. 

Jesus Christ crowned with Thorns 365 

CHAPTER LI. 
Jesus Christ mocked as a False King 373 

CHAPTER LII. 
Jesus Christ shown by Pilate to the People 382 

CHAPTER LIII. 
The Jews cry out, Let Jesus be crucified! 392 

CHAPTER LIV. 
Jesus Christ defended by Pilate against the Jews 401 

CHAPTER LV. 
Last Examination of Jesus Christ at the Tribunal of Pilate 405 

CHAPTER LVI. 
Pilate again attempts the Liberation of Jesus Christ 410 



CONTENTS 



xxiii 



CHAPTER LVIL page 
Pilate consents to the Condemnation of Jesus Christ 418 

CHAPTER LVIII. 
Jesus Christ condemned to die on the Cross 424 

CHAPTER LIX. 
Jesus Christ takes the Cross on His Shoulders 429 

CHAPTER LX. 
Jesus Christ goes with the Cross to Calvary 435 

CHAPTER LXI. 
J esus Christ assisted by the Cyrenean to carry His Cross . . 444 

CHAPTER LXII. 
Jesus Christ pitied by the Daughters of Jerusalem 450 

CHAPTER LXIII. 
Jesus Christ with His Cross arrives at Calvary 455 

CHAPTER LXIV. 
The Crucifixion of Jesus Christ 461 

CHAPTER LXY. 
Jesus Christ crucified between Two Thieves 469 

CHAPTER LXVI. 
Jesus Crucified scoffed at by the Jews 475 

CHAPTER LXVII. 
Jesus Crucified prays for His Enemies 479 

CHAPTER LXVIII. 
Jesus Christ promises Paradise to the Good Thief 483 

CHAPTER LXIX. 
The Blessed Virgin Mary at the Foot of the Cross 488 

CHAPTER LXX. 
Jesus Crucified complains of being abandoned 492 

CHAPTER LXXL 
Jesus Crucified complains of Thirst 495 



xxiv 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER LXXII. page 
Last Words of Jesus Crucified 498 

CHAPTER LXXIII. 
The Death of Jesus Crucified 503 

CHAPTER LXXIV. 
Jesus Crucified pierced in the Side by a Lance 509 

CHAPTER LXXV. 
Jesus Christ taken down from the Cross 516 

CHAPTER LXXVI. 
Jesus Christ laid in the Arms of His Mother 520 



£|tougt!t3 ant) affections on tfyt passion 



CHAPTEE I. 

JESUS CHRIST FORETELLS HIS PASSION TO THE APOSTLES. 

I. Jesus Christ had repeatedly foretold His bitter 
Passion to His Apostles. Let us observe what effect this 
had upon them. He speaks of His Passion after Peter 
had confessed Him to be the Son of God, and He does this 
to animate all to imitate Him by carrying their cross with 
patience ; since no one can hereafter come with Him to the 
enjoyment of His glory who is unwilling to suffer here 
with Him. But what does Peter do ? Whether it be from 
a temptation of Satan, or from a sentiment of tenderness 
and love, he undertakes to contradict Him, maintaining 
that so ignominious a Passion is not becoming the Son of 
the living and eternal God. 

Again, on another occasion Jesus Christ speaks of His 
Passion to His Apostles, on their return from Galilee to 
Jerusalem; and gives them a detail of the pains and out- 
rages which he is about to endure, in order that, from the 
humiliations of a God, they too may learn to be humble. 
What is the effect produced? Two of them, James and 
John, are filled with vain, ambitious ideas of rising to 
dignities and preferments; so that Our Saviour is forced 
to rebuke them, and to give them to understand that His 
kingdom is for those alone that humble themselves. 

Let us reflect how the like happens in our own case ; and 
if the Apostles might be allowed some excuse, because the 
mystery of the Cross was, as yet, not understood by them, 
what excuse can be made for us, if we draw no advantage 
from reflections on the Passion ? I, too, by my meditations 
intend to obtain mortification and humility; but how fre- 
quently do I find myself, either by my self-love or by 
the devil, drawn in the opposite direction! Although in 



4 JESUS CHRIST FORETELLS HIS PASSION 



every phase of His Passion Jesus Christ speaks to my 
heart, and tells me that I should learn of Him humility, 
how often, notwithstanding, do I swell with self-conceit, 
how full am I of vanity, of presumption, how sensitive ! 

sweet Kedeemer, fortify me, I beseech Thee, with Thy 
spirit, that I may conquer and subdue this repugnance to 
suffering, which is in me. When the question arises of 
denying myself such and such desires, which savor too 
much of self, on the one side, I know my duty well enough ; 
but, on the other, I find myself weak and pusillanimous, 
and a mere trifle prevents the execution of Thy holy in- 
spirations. Above all, that pride of mine, how great it is ! 
I know no one — no ! not one — who possesses greater lights 
or stronger motives, than what faith in Thy sacred Passion 
affords me, for the practice of humility. Most sweet J esus ! 
most loving Jesus ! Master of true patience and of solid 
humility ! teach me these virtues which Thou Thyself hast 
vouchsafed to practise. Do not suffer Thy Passion to be 
without fruit in me. Prostrate at the feet of Thy Majesty, 
I implore Thee to grant me the grace to meditate with 
profit upon it. 

1 will take this as a maxim, that without humility and 
patience I shall not be saved. I shall be patient, if I am 
humble; and I shall be humble, if I thoroughly endeavor 
to know my miseries. 

II. Another time, when the multitude were in astonish- 
ment at the miracles which they saw Him work, Jesus 
Christ speaks of His Passion to His Apostles, and says to 
them: You know that after two days shall be the Pasch, 
and the Son of man shall be delivered up to be crucified. 1 
This He says to them, that they might know that nothing 
could befall Him against His will, and that it all would 
happen by His own free choice. Moreover, that when they 
should behold Him dying on the cross, they might under- 
stand and remember that He is the God-Man. Our Saviour 
could not make use of clearer expressions in order to im- 
press upon their minds this great mystery; and yet they 

(') St. Matt, xxvi, 2. 



JESUS CHRIST FORETELLS HIS PASSION 5 



understood no more of what He said than if they had been 
blind and destitute of sense. 

Jesus Christ again speaks of His Passion, saying openly 
that He would be betrayed and mocked and scourged and 
spit upon and put to death, as had been predicted of Him 
in the Scripture. But again they did not understand ; and, 
conceiving it to be said as a metaphor or parable, they dis- 
tort the sense, and imagine it means anything but His 
approaching Passion — which in reality it does mean. 
Hence, we find them perpetually contending with one an- 
other for preeminence, and not striving to obtain humility, 
which is the virtue that their divine Master intends to 
inculcate on them. 

We will not stop to discover how this happened with 
respect to the Apostles, but we will at once turn our re- 
flections upon ourselves. Am I not, as a general thing, like 
them when I read or meditate upon the most holy Passion 
of Our Lord? Am I not stupid, dull, without sense or 
understanding? While reflecting who it is that suffers, 
why He suffers, and for whom, I can not find in myself a 
spark of feeling, as though my faith were entirely dead. 
And who can say whether this darkness in my mind, this 
hardness of my heart, be not actually the result of that 
awful punishment with which the reprobate are threatened, 
— that they shall be deprived of understanding the myste- 
ries of salvation ? 

I fear it, my God! and I have just reason to fear it 
on account of my sins ; but I cry to Thee for mercy, Thou 
Light of souls ! and I implore Thee to enlighten my dark- 
ness. True it is, that I am most unworthy of Thy light; 
but I promise that, with Thy assistance, I shall abuse it no 
longer, but employ it faithfully to Thy honor. Open the 
eyes of my mind, take away the natural hardness of my 
heart, and give me the gift of understanding, that I may 
dwell with attention and devotion upon Thy sorrowful 
mysteries, and may be touched with compassion and com- 
punction. I do not pray, and I know not how to pray. 
For, in truth, what manner of prayers are mine which 



6 



CONSPIRACY OF THE JEWS 



leave my passions within me more violent than before? 
My Jesus ! Thou art good, and by the bowels of Thy most 
tender mercy I beseech Thee, teach me and help me with 
Thy most holy grace. 

I shall recommend myself to the Most Blessed Virgin at 
the beginning and at the end of my meditations. I shall 
frequently humble myself at the consideration of my un- 
worthiness, — as God is accustomed to bestow His gift of 
understanding on none but the humble. 



CHAPTEE II. 

CONSPIRACY OP THE JEWS AGAINST JESUS CHRIST. 

I. Jesus Christ having raised Lazarus from the dead, 
and the fame of this miracle being noised abroad, as it was 
the last and most striking of all that He had wrought, 
having been for His own divine purposes expressly reserved 
for that precise time, many of the Jews acknowledged Him 
as the true Son of God and were converted. Certain per- 
sons, however, having at the same time gone to the Phar- 
isees and reported the influence of Jesus Christ and the 
multitude of followers that He was gaining on account of 
this miracle, these Pharisees immediately come together in 
the house of Caiphas, with the rulers of the synagogue, to 
conspire against Him ! At other times they endeavored to 
kill Him; now they intend to come to a final decision on 
the subject. 

The truth of the miracle can neither be denied nor con- 
cealed; but this fact, instead of causing them to admire 
and revere J esus Christ, has only the effect of driving these 
impious men to a still greater degree of exasperation and 
rage on account of the implacable hatred that they enter- 
tain for Him. Oh, to what will disorderly passions lead 
us ! This is a point on which I must often reflect when I 
modi f ate on the Passion of Jesus Christ. What brought 
about His Passion, in the eyes of the world ? It was a blind 



CONSPIRACY OF THE JEWS 



7 



passion in the rulers of the Jews. What was the cause of 
it, in the eyes of God ? My sins — and whence spring all my 
sins but from my interior passions, and from that one in 
particular that in me dominates over all the affections of 
my heart? 

We find, in reading the lives of the saints, that they all 
became saints by practising the mortification of their pas- 
sions. But as for me, how frequently have I employed 
those very passions — of which the saints took advantage to 
become saints, — more miserable than the Jews, to conspire 
against Thee, my God ! Thou hast implanted these pas- 
sions in my nature in order that I may have an opportunity 
from them to exercise myself in virtue, not to turn them 
into occasions and instruments of vice. From time to 
time I call these my passions to a consultation in my heart, 
as in the hall of Caiphas; — and what resolutions result 
from these consultations but to devise mortal offences 
against Thee ? Ah ! what remedy, what refuge shall I find ? 

Thou only, my God! canst assist me in this matter. 
Therefore, I humbly entreat Thee to grant me this grace : 
that I may draw from the Passion of J esus Christ the power 
to moderate my passions so that they may always be subject 
to reason and faith, and be ruled by Thy holy Command- 
ments, My diseases are many and grievous, on account 
of the multiplicity of my evil inclinations; but Thy wis- 
dom, Thy mercy, and Thy grace are far more powerful to 
help and strengthen me in good than I am to cast myself 
into evil. What I fear above all in myself is pride, because 
this evil is hidden from me; but do Thou, I entreat Thee, 
give me light and strength to combat the root and source 
of all my vices, — Thou who art the Master of humility, 
and the Director of the humble. 

For the reason that I do not know my pride, I must 
endeavor to discover it by observing what are the thoughts, 
desires, intentions, and actions within me which I esteem 
the most virtuous. 

II. The predominant passion which excites the Priests 
and Pharisees to hatred of Jesus Christ is envy, They see 



8 



CONSPIRACY OF THE JEWS 



that the people admire His miracles, and follow Him ; and 
filled with jealous fears of losing the esteem and affection 
of these people, which are to them so abundant a source of 
wealth and profit, through mere envy, the malice of which 
was increased by avarice and ambition, they unanimously 
resolve to safeguard their own interests, by ridding the 
world of the holiest Man on earth. 

What havoc does not envy make in souls ! What evil does 
it not cause in the world ! Even spiritual persons are not 
free from it; — and however much we may hear it con- 
demned, still no one takes measures to be cured of it. 
Generally speaking, envy is regarded as an evil of little 
consequence. Hence, people do not fear it — they scarcely 
notice it. Nevertheless, it is true that, without being aware 
of it, we are drawing our eternal ruin from this source. 

Let us probe the recesses of our own conscience, and per- 
chance we shall find lurking there this evil passion, which, 
like a slow fever, makes us waste and pine away. On cer- 
tain occasions, I ardently desire to meet with esteem and 
approbation from persons of my condition; and it happens 
that some one else — my equal or perhaps my inferior — is 
more esteemed, honored, and loved than myself. At this I 
experience displeasure and regret. In short, do I rejoice 
at every good, whatever it be, that my neighbor enjoys, with 
the same satisfaction as though it were my own? Charity 
demands and requires this of me, and every motion of my 
heart that is opposed to this charity is a veritable act of 
envy. This being the case, how do we stand, my soul, in 
the eyes of God? 

I tremble, my God, at the depravity of my heart. 
Oftentimes the good enjoyed by others makes me sad. At 
the same time, I flatter myself with the notion that this 
sadness is an effect of zeal. But where is my guarantee 
that it is not the outcome of envy, — and of envy so much 
the more refined, as it is hidden ? Thou, Lord, with Thy 
searching eyes, that penetrate the lowest depths of my 
heart, Thou seest this evil passion within me; while I make 
no account of it, neither accusing myself of it, nor using 



CONSPIRACY OF THE JEWS 



9 



any means to correct it. This blind envy obscures my 
sight; and, wretch that I am! while I might become a 
saint by the exercise of charity and find my happiness in 
the happiness of others, I prefer to make myself miserable 
at the sight of their happiness, and to throw myself into 
perdition with the wicked Jews. my God ! Thou teachest 
me, by Thy sacred word, that envy is a vice peculiar to the 
devil, who hates and persecutes man for no other cause 
than for the good that Thou doest to him; — grant me, 
then, Thy assistance to know and hate this abominable vice 
ever more and more. 

In my daily examinations I shall reflect upon envy ; and 
when I find myself in fault, I will repent and confess it. 
Moreover, I will resolve to guard against the occasions of 
it and to resist its first motions. 

III. In this assembly of the chief priests and Pharisees, 
the especial accusations brought against Jesus Christ are 
His miracles. What do we, they say, any longer to suffer 
this man, who works these wonders above all human 
power f 1 They call to mind the blind restored to sight, the 
sick healed, the dead raised to life, and the multitude of 
other prodigies that He had performed for the public good ; 
and from all this, which should have forced them to believe 
Jesus Christ to be the Messiah foretold by the prophets, 
they conclude that they must put Him to death. Was it 
ever heard that, in order to condemn a person to death, his 
good works were brought in evidence? In this manner 
they treat Jesus Christ, who stands condemned for His 
striking miracles. 

Remark the blindness of these men. They longed, they 
prayed for the coming of the Messiah ; and now that He is 
come, with all the marks by which He may be recognized, 
they reject Him, and with frenzied rage they consult to- 
gether how to destroy Him. Behold in this a representa- 
tion of what I myself do. I desire and I pray for humility, 
charity, patience, and the other virtues necessary for my 
eternal salvation; and when God answers my prayer by 

(0 St. Luke xxiii. 



10 



CONSPIRACY OF THE JEWS 



sending me occasions, inspirations, helps for the actual 
practice of humility, charit}% patience, and the rest, what 
do I do? I turn away from the occasion, I resist the in- 
spiration, I despise the divine assistance. In every respect 
I act like those reprobate souls who are ungrateful and 
rebellious to the goodness of God. The Jews wished for a 
Messiah who should come to save them, without prejudice 
to their worldly interests or their unruly appetites. In 
like manner, I wish for everything that is requisite for my 
salvation, yet without denying my concupiscences and 
vicious inclinations. 

What dost Thou say of me, my God ? Do I not imitate 
the J ews in my chimerical notions of desiring a Saviour to 
save me in my own way, — One that will bestow virtues 
upon me without my forsaking vice, and bring me to the 
kingdom of heaven without my doing violence to detach my 
affections from self and the world ? my God ! grant that 
I may acknowledge Thy mercies and Thy graces, and, at the 
same time, realize my own malice, which is so thoroughly 
known to Thee. I desire to know it, only with a view to rid 
myself of it and to correct it by most strenuous efforts, 
made in spite of the difficulties placed in the way by my 
senses and my natural repugnances. 

It is Thou, Lord ! who dost prevent and excite me to 
make Thee this prayer. Wilt Thou, therefore, abandon 
one who prays to Thee according to Thy good pleasure, and 
in Thy name? This prayer I make to Thee with all 
humility, that I may not, to my damnation, abuse those 
graces and helps which Thou dost give me for my salva- 
tion. It is impossible that I should be saved in any other 
way than that which my Saviour has taught me. That is, 
that I should endeavor, with a firm resolution, to follow 
my Saviour Jesus Christ in His doctrine and in His ex- 
ample. Jesus, rejected by the Jews, be Thou ever loved, 
adored, and imitated by me ! 

I shall be unable to find an excuse at the divine tribunal 
for not having practised virtue from any want of grace. 
My own indolence will prove my guilt; and, as an idle, 



CONSPIRACY OF THE JEWS 



11 



unprofitable servant, I shall be condemned to eternal 
punishment. 

IV. What the priests have to say against Jesus Christ 
is that if He is suffered to live all will believe in Him, and 
then the Eomans will come and possess the country. But 
while the rest are occupied, each making the most of what 
he has to say, the high priest Caiphas stands up, and call- 
ing them all ignorant babblers, he decides that the prin- 
cipal motive for putting Jesus Christ to death is that it is 
expedient for the public good that He should die. It is 
immaterial to us, he says, whether He be innocent or what 
is the justice or law of the case, but simply what is best 
for us and most expedient. No sooner has he said this 
than all agree with him, and under a false pretext of zeal 
the fatal plot is formed. 

Let us reflect that in these deliberations on the cause of 
Jesus Christ no regard is had to conscience; none to the 
fear of God. Nothing but their own interests and human 
respect is taken into account. Had they seen things in the 
true light, they would have found it immensely to their 
advantage to believe in the Messiah who had come to them. 
But because of their love for vanity, they reject Him and 
conspire against His person. Consequently, they forfeited 
all good — temporal and eternal. 

Is not this precisely my way of acting ? Whenever I am 
under the influence of some passion I invariably imagine 
that I have the best possible reasons on my side; and, 
determined to gratify my inclinations, I see no danger in 
the course that I adopt, and with certainty calculate on 
the most improbable chances in my favor. Again, every 
time that I commit sin, I follow after that which flatters 
my sensual appetites; and fancying that I shall be the 
gainer by adhering to some trifling point of honor some- 
times, at others by indulging in some pleasure, or serving 
some petty interest, I am, in fact, all the time plotting 
with my passions the death of the Incarnate Son of God. 
It is myself that I love inordinately, when I love the con- 
veniences and pleasures of this earthly life. And behold- 



12 



CONSPIRACY OF THE JEWS 



ing that it is my self-love that fascinates and blinds me 
and that is the cause of all my evils, what misery is this, 
that wherever I go this same self-love, — the greatest of all 
my enemies, must always accompany me ! 

But where, my God ! is my common sense, where is my 
faith, when I conceive a vain pleasure to be more advanta- 
geous to me than Thy most holy grace, than my own eternal 
salvation? What will all the consolations of this earth 
profit me, at the cost of offending Thee and injuring my 
own soul ? Is it to my advantage to indulge in momentary 
pleasure in this world, and to suffer eternal torments in 
the other ? my God ! give me an upright, prudent, and 
resolute spirit to guide myself ever by this great truth, 
that what is best and most profitable for me, is to be found 
in Thee alone — in Thee, my Sovereign Good, my All for 
time and eternity. 

I shall consider what are my attractions and aversions, 
as it may easily happen that concerning them I deceive 
myself with erroneous opinions. God will judge the system 
of theology that I form to suit myself. 

V. The council of the rulers of the synagogue was a 
cabal of wickedness against the life of the Sovereign Lord 
and Saviour of the world, — as the Prophet had foretold. 
Nevertheless, in it nothing was determined but what had 
been previously determined in heaven. Caiphas said that 
it was expedient that one man should die to save the peo- 
ple. This was precisely what had been arranged by the 
eternal decrees of God. For, all the sons of Adam having 
been condemned to death, there was no way to save them 
and set them free but by a Man-God dying for them. 
Caiphas said this in a perverse, wicked sense; but his 
malice answered the deep purposes of divine Wisdom, and 
nothing but what had been ordained from eternity was 
accomplished. 

Reflect, my soul, that all this is known to Jesus — both 
what is transpiring against Him on earth, and what has 
been decreed in heaven. And, oh! with what submission 
docs Ee bow down profoundly to adore the justice of God 



AT THE SUPPER IN BETHANIA 



13 



in the injustice of men, while in His Heart He is occupied 
in acts of the most sublime virtues ! A noble example is 
this for me, which I am bound to imitate. How often do 
I swell with indignation, complain, and am vexed, because 
some one speaks of or treats me injuriously; and when 
some misfortune happens to me, I am sad and disquieted. 
Whence comes this ? Solely from my living without reflec- 
tion, solely because I forget to raise my eyes, and consider 
that all this happens by a just, secret disposition of 
Providence. 

my God! the only Bestower of virtue, imprint deeply 
in my soul this truth of faith, — that Thy justice and Thy 
mercy should be adored in everything that Thou dost order. 
Now I resolve to humble myself beneath Thy almighty 
hand, and to submit unreservedly. This I should do ; this 
I shall do. I fear only that I may not be constant in my 
resolution. I have had bitter experience of my instability. 
But do Thou help me, I pray, with the power of Thy 
grace. Hereafter, when anything shall occur to cross my 
inclinations, or to hurt my feelings, make me acknowledge 
it as coming from Thee, so that I may receive it with 
humility and reverence. Make me believe that it is or- 
dained by Thy mercy, as an occasion of my practising 
meritorious patience ; and make me still maintain my hope 
in Thee, though in my sufferings I should be obliged to 
sacrifice to Thee my life. 

After the example of Jesus Christ, I shall draw good 
from evil, I shall love those who hate me, I shall pray for 
those who injure me, and I shall bless the Lord for every- 
thing that tempts me to impatience. 



CHAPTEE III. 

JESUS CHRIST AT THE SUPPER IN BETHANIA. 

I. In the history of His Passion, Jesus Christ desires 
that what Magdalene did to honor Him at the supper in 



14 



AT THE SUPPER IN BETHANIA 



Bethania, six days before His death, should be inserted. 
That woman, who in the first instance had been a sinner, 
and afterward had become a penitent, now appears before 
us as one arrived at a high degree of perfection, when she 
poured a vase of precious ointment on the head and feet 
of her Saviour. By His head she acknowledges His Divin- 
ity, in His feet His Humanity; and she represents to us 
by the anointing of His head the love of God, by that of 
His feet the love of our neighbor. She teaches us that in 
these two actions consists Christian perfection. 

Magdalene was the first to honor the ignominious death 
of Jesus Christ. She did this by anticipation, being the 
first to anoint His body with precious ointment, as is done 
to great personages previous to their burial; — and con- 
sider what is most striking in this story. Certain persons 
present undertook to blame her, as though it were an in- 
judicious act to pour out in this manner so expensive an 
ointment. But did she, think you, hesitate on their ac- 
count? No. With fearless generosity she allows them to 
say what they please, and continues what she is doing. 
She counts as nothing the sayings and opinions of men. 
For her it is sufficient to know that what she is doing is 
acceptable to Jesus. Hence, Jesus has ordained that for 
this action she should be forever honored throughout the 
world. 

I have great reason to take Magdalene as my guide and 
advocate. This holy woman is happy to think that she was 
permitted to anoint Jesus. If I wish, may I not also 
perform toward Him this kind office ? When we make acts 
of love to God, we anoint the head of Jesus with sweet 
ointment. We anoint His feet by acts of charity to our 
neighbor. What prevents my practising these acts ? 

My God ! I know what I should and might do, and I 
wish to do it; — but I do it not. Frequently, in prayer, I 
resolve to give nryself wholly to Thy love, and moreover to 
practise works of mercy, spiritual and corporal, toward my 
neighbor. But when occasions are offered me, how weak 
am T, — what a wretched coward! Above all, my self-love' 



AT THE SUPPER IN BETHANIA 



15 



is shown in making me a slave to human respect. For this 
reason how readily do I relinquish my pious exercises ; how 
often do I cease to please Thee, my God, for fear of 
displeasing some one in the world ! Ah, J esus ! who didst 
anoint the heart of Magdalene with the grace of Thy Holy 
Spirit, even before she anointed Thy body with sweet oint- 
ment, I implore Thee also to anoint my heart and 
strengthen it by this same alluring sweetness. Holy Mag- 
dalene, pray for me, that I may remain firm against all 
human respect. Live, Jesus ! Virtue forever ! Let world- 
lings say what they please, God shall be my support. 

Magdalene replied not to those who reproached her, — 
therefore Jesus undertook to defend her. So Jesus Christ 
will likewise take care of me, if with patience and humility 
I bear with evil tongues. 

II. Judas is among those who speak against Magdalene. 
Having charge of the alms for the support of the f amity of 
the Apostles, and accustomed to steal a portion for his 
own purposes, he is enraged at beholding this ointment 
not given charitably into his hands, as he would have sold 
it and appropriated a part of the price. Thereupon he 
begins to consider the selling of Jesus Christ, that thus he 
might gain some compensation for the theft of which he 
was now disappointed. 

Reflect that that same ointment, which is for Magdalene 
an odor of sanctity, becomes for Judas a mystery of 
iniquity. He makes it an occasion of his damnation, as she 
does of her salvation. But this wretched man does not 
begin by this act to be perverted, — he was already habitu- 
ated to theft. It is this vile habit of covetousness that 
makes him capable of planning without horror the betrayal 
of his divine Master. Consider, again, that Jesus Christ, 
who knows perfectly all the wickedness of Judas, does not 
for that reason expel him from the College of Apostles. 
He does not drive him from His presence, but patiently 
supports him. "What have we to learn from the conduct of 
Judas ? What from that of Jesus Christ ? 

How many things there are which I make the occasions 



16 AT THE SUPPER IN BETHANIA 



for offending God, and which I should use to honor Him? 
How do I use my body ? How do I use my soul ? Oh, what 
a multitude of abuses, my God ! Everything within me 
ought to breathe an odor of sweetness to Thy divine 
Majesty — the sweet odor of good example to my neighbor ; 
but, instead of this, what rank iniquity do I pour forth on 
all sides ! Ah, my Jesus ! if I do not deserve the grace to 
love Thee as Magdalene did, I implore Thee give me the 
grace not to betray Thee like Judas. Give me the grace to 
discover nry predominant passion and to make it an object 
of mortification, that it may not become the instrument of 
my perdition. I rely upon Thy assistance, and I am con- 
fident that my hope will not be vain. 

In the next place, my Saviour, when I reflect that, 
among Thy Apostles, Thou wast pleased to have one that 
gave Thee constant occasions of exercising patience by the 
grievous displeasure that he caused Thee, what an example 
dost Thou give for my imitation when I am obliged to live 
with persons who cause me annoyance by their faults and 
imperfections ! Jesus, what a contrast do I behold be- 
tween myself and Thee! Thou, who art the Most Holy, 
didst endure Judas, who was a devil incarnate ; and I, who 
on account of my numerous defects require to be com- 
passionated by all and borne with, am not able to com- 
passionate or to bear with any one who is not, in every 
respect, precisely to my taste. I cherish antipathies and 
aversions; I follow movements of indiscreet zeal; and at 
every trifle, I take offence and am perturbed. I expect 
others to accommodate themselves to my fancy ; and, on my 
side, I have no idea of accommodating myself to any one. 
What a spirit is mine ! How haughty, how restless ! Most 
sweet J esus ! may I learn from Thee to bear with my neigh- 
bor, — not by assuming an appearance of good will or by 
dissembling my impatience through human prudence, but 
by the practice of true Christian patience for the love of 
God. 

I shall esteem it a more advantageous mortification to act 
charitably toward those who annoy me than to wear a hair- 



JESUS ENTERS JERUSALEM 



17 



shirt or use the discipline. Oh, how meritorious it is to be 
patient, and thus to preserve fraternal charity!- 



CHAPTER IV. 

ENTRANCE OF JESUS CHRIST INTO JERUSALEM. 

I. Jesus Christ, knowing that the time of His Passion 
is approaching, desires to reach the place in which it is 
appointed that He should suffer — that is, the city of Jeru- 
salem, — in order that it may be apparent that He loves to 
suffer, and seeks suffering voluntarily. On other occasions 
He had entered that city ; but never with pomp and solemn- 
ity, as He does at present, when He wishes to have His 
entrance accompanied with gladness an<J festivity. There 
is a deep mystery in all that He does. Jesus Christ now 
enters Jerusalem with joy, because on this occasion He 
enters to suffer and to die on the cross. The nearer the 
time at which He shall accomplish the Redemption of 
mankind on the cross approaches, the more brightly do the 
flames of love burn within His Heart. 

Moreover, observe His demeanor on this journey. How 
majestic He is, and at the same time how humble! He 
comes not clothed in purple, in a gilded coach, with a long 
train of attendants, but in a poor garment, riding on an 
ass ; because He does not desire to be feared for His power, 
but to be loved on account of His meekness. The multi- 
tudes ornament the roads, sing hymns of praise, and carry 
olive branches to denote the coming of a King of Peace. 
Contemplate the modest bearing of this King, and you 
will clearly realize that He comes full of gentleness, — not to 
oppress, but to relieve and save His subjects. 

Oh, let us admire His charity and humility ! Wherefore, 
good Jesus, wherefore dost Thou thus hasten to meet the 
outrages, the scourges, the thorns, the cross that await 
Thee? I do not marvel at the martyrs embracing their 
sufferings with delight, because they suffered for love of 



18 



JESUS ENTERS JERUSALEM 



Thee; but Thou, for whom art Thou going to suffer? 
Thou art going to suffer for me; and is it possible, then, 
that in going to suffer for me Thou showest such eagerness, 
so much joy? My reason fails me. This surpasses my 
comprehension. I can only exclaim : love of J esus ! 
immense love! But what must I say, when, on the one 
side, I behold Thee so eager to suffer for me; and, on the 
other, see myself so averse to endure anything for Thee? 

Again, what shall I say at seeing Thee so humble and 
myself so proud ? As I gaze upon Thee, riding on the ass, 
methinks I see a doctor in his chair reading me a lesson 
on humility, and giving me to understand that, although 
Thou desirest to save all, yet none but the humble shall be 
saved. Ah, my J esus, praise and thanks be to Thee forever, 
because so desirous art Thou of my salvation that Thou not 
only teachest me humility, but inspirest me with it, Sweet 
humility! I love thee, I long for thee. Lord, God Al- 
mighty! who dost care for each one as Thou dost for all, 
and carest for all as Thou dost care for each, assist me in 
my misery, that in the very act of longing to be humble I 
may not make humility itself the occasion of pride. 

To me it shall be a sufficient motive of humility — that 
I know not, in truth, whether I love God, or whether I am 
really humble. At times, it seems to me that I have some 
sentiment of humility and love. But who can say if my 
self-love does not flatter me in this supposition? 

II. When Jesus Christ wrought the miracle of the 
multiplication of the loaves the crowd proclaimed Him 
King, and He fled to conceal Himself, thus declining the 
honor. Now He willingly accepts the acclamations of the 
people, and of the very children, who lift up their voice to 
salute Him King of the royal family of David. Not only 
is He pleased with them, but He also reproves the rulers 
of the synagogue who, filled with envy, dislike thus to hear 
Him extolled. He confirms the truth of what they say, 
when they call Him a King. But the question is, what 
manner of King is He? 

He is a King that fears to be made a king, since it 



JESUS ENTERS JERUSALEM 



19 



appertains not to man to make Him King, as He is already 
King, Son of a royal Father, whose kingdom is not human 
but divine; not earthly but heavenly; not temporal but 
eternal. Hence, He takes pleasure in these innocent accla- 
mations, which are prompted by the light of faith, acknowl- 
edging Him to be the true Messiah, come to save the world. 
As the angels kept holiday and sung glory to Him at His 
birth, so now, that He is about to die, all these people re- 
joice, declaring Him their Saviour; — and they pray to 
Him, in the words of David, that He would deign to grant 
them salvation. 

Reflect, that as this solemn appearance of Jesus Christ 
in the character of King has been foretold by the Prophet, 
who invited Jerusalem to go to meet and receive Him, so 
we should understand this same invitation as also ad- 
dressed to us. Jesus Christ comes thus to 'you also, my 
soul, with royal majesty, in order to work out your salva- 
tion. And why, oh why !"have you not likewise the simplic- 
ity and humility of those people and of those children to 
praise Him as He deserves and to entreat Him to save 
you? Go forward, my soul, to meet Him with sentiments 
of joy, humility and fervor. 

Ah, my J esus ! was it worth while to make Thee King of 
men, since Thou art already the immortal King of ages ? 
That Thou shouldst be my King is no honor to Thee, — it is 
a proof of Thy condescension. Thou art come into the 
world with infinite mercy as my King, to make me a king, 
and to bestow upon me the kingdom of Thy glory. Be it 
so, Lord! Help to save me, since without Thee I am 
bereft of wisdom, and must needs fall headlong down the 
precipice. Into Thy hands I commit the work of my 
salvation. Direct and assist me, since there is none but 
Thyself who can give me light and strength and opportuni- 
ties for working out my final perseverance. As for m,e, I 
have determined that if I save my soul, I shall have done all 
that can be done in this world; and if I lose it, whatever 
else I may have done here amounts to nothing. My J esus ! 
my Saviour! I beseech Thee not to deprive me of Thy 



20 



JESUS ENTERS JERUSALEM 



powerful assistance in the work of my salvation, which is 
my only work. 

I shall excite in myself an ardent desire for my eternal 
salvation, in order to correspond with the desire that J esus 
Christ has for it. What has J esus Christ done to save me, 
and what am I doing ? What should I do to work out my 
salvation ? 

III. In return for the benefit of their deliverance from 
the slavery of Egypt, the Jews had a custom of sacrificing 
every year a lamb, at the Passover, with solemn rites. This 
lamb was ordered to be without spot, and to be brought 
with signs of gladness to their houses five days before it 
was sacrificed. Jesus Christ also was pleased to observe 
exactly this holy rite; and, being the true, unspotted Lamb 
that was to be immolated at this Passover for the Kedemp- 
tion of the world, He enters Jerusalem with similar dem- 
onstrations of joy precisely five days previous to His cruci- 
fixion and immolation on Calvary. 

He is the High Priest who is destined to offer the sacri- 
fice to His heavenly Father; but He is, at the same time, 
the Victim to be offered for the sins of men. Therefore, 
He enters Jerusalem with solemn pomp, to prepare for 
the great occasion and to make known to all what He is, — 
the true Lamb of God, prefigured of old in the ancient 
Law, and pointed out by His precursor, St. John the 
Baptist. 

Oh, if any one could have witnessed what was taking 
place in the Heart of Jesus as He considered Himself, 
first, in the light of Priest, then of Lamb ! — As Priest, what 
acceptable acts of religious homage did He not offer to the 
divine Majesty ! As Lamb, what burning acts of charity, 
being aware, as He was, that He would soon be slain so 
painfully in expiation, not of His own sins, but for those 
of others ! With regard to ourselves, we must reflect and 
inquire: If the Jews were accustomed to offer a lamb in 
memory of their deliverance from the afflictions of Egypt, 
what ought I to offer for my deliverance from the eternal 
torments of hell ? 



JESUS ENTERS JERUSALEM 



21 



In the first place, Eternal Father ! in Thy presence I 
make a full confession of my sins. The shame for my base 
ingratitude I purpose to offer to Thy praise and honor, in 
acknowledgment of Thy being deserving of everlasting 
glory, and of my having committed a most heinous deed by 
offending Thee. In the second place, I unite my affections 
with those of Jesus Christ, and with Him I offer Thee all 
that I am. How many base passions are there in me, — of 
pride, anger, envy, gluttony, and concupiscence for the 
miserable pleasures of the flesh and of the world! All 
these, my God ! I now desire to sacrifice to Thee, in union 
with Thy immaculate Lamb. Give me an upright mind to 
accomplish this sacrifice, and grant that this my offering 
may be accepted by Thee, together with that sacrifice of 
justice which Jesus Christ is now about to make for me. 
My Jesus ! who art going with such alacrity to die for me, 
give me the grace to imitate Thee, so that I may practise 
mortification with that gladness of heart which gives to 
the sacrifice an odor of acceptable sweetness. 

I shall select that passion that predominates in me, and 
I will offer it up with the greatest fervor possible, in token 
of thanksgiving for the benefit of Eedemption, — that in- 
expressible gift of the divine Goodness. 

IV. If we behold Jesus Christ as He enters Jerusalem, 
accompanied by His Apostles and by the multitude who 
pay Him reverence and honor, crying out with a loud voice, 
"Long live the Son of David, long live the blessed Mes- 
siah ! 99 there is much to give us consolation, as we see the 
divine Person acknowledged and glorified in our human 
nature. But if, on the other hand, we consider that in less 
than five days, in presence of and among His Apostles, one 
of them will betray Him, another will deny Him, and all 
of them will forsake Him; and before this same people 
who now raise their voice and salute Him as King He will 
be accused of sedition, will be regarded as worse than an 
assassin, and the same multitude will again cry out, insist- 
ing that He should die upon a cross — what can we say of 
so strange a reversal? 



22 



JESUS ENTERS JERUSALEM 



This is only a representation of what is transpiring in 
the world. From honor to disgrace, from Hosanna to 
Crucifige, the distance is short. Eapid is the flight of 
pleasure. Soon does all that is called glory, prosperity, 
mirth, come to an end; soon does all that is sweet turn to 
bitterness. Judge then, my soul, if it be profitable to make 
so great account of the world ; and take as a rule of conduct 
this infallible truth — that all is vanity, and that it is 
vanity of vanities to attach ourselves to vanity. All things 
pass away, and there is no lasting happiness but in that 
eternal joy promised to the man who serves God. 

But this scene likewise brings before me a picture of my 
own manner of acting. When I approach the Sacraments 
of Penance and Holy Eucharist, what protestations do I 
make of praise, love, and honor to J esus Christ ! I prefer 
Him to all things ; I declare that I love Him absolutely — 
but how frequently do I, in a short time, make less account 
of Him than of a wretched gratification, and by sin I 
revolt against Him! Today I cry Hosanna; tomorrow I 
shall cry out, Crucify Him. My instability is a vile effect, 
not so much of my corrupt nature, as of my habitual in- 
dulgence in wickedness. 

my God! Thou seest me, and Thou knowest me 
through and through; Thou knowest every atom of my 
being. Often I separate myself from Thee, because I am 
never truly and intimately united to Thee. I can not be 
united to Thee except by loving Thee. Consequently, I 
am not united to Thee, because I love Thee not. But how 
does it happen, Thou true Eternity and eternal Truth, that 
I do not love Thee? Ah, my God, while I confess my 
misery, do Thou cause me to weep over it. I love vanity, 
and to vanity I am closely bound. That is the source of all 
my evil. But do Thou, I implore Thee, destroy this love 
that I entertain for vanity and infuse into me love for 
Thee. Strengthen me in this love, and by Thy holy fear 
confirm the resolution that I now make of loving and obey- 
ing Thee forever. 

Another reason why f am not faithful to my good resolu- 



JESUS ENTERS JERUSALEM 



tions is that I trust in myself. Henceforward I shall trust 
in God, and God shall be my strength. 

Y. As Jesus Christ continued His journey in the midst 
of honor and applause, and was drawing near to the city 
of Jerusalem, He had no sooner cast His eyes upon it than 
He burst into a flood of tears. He wept, by His example 
to accentuate what He had preached, that they who weep 
are blessed. He weeps, — not that He is to be condemned 
to death in that city, but because He foresees the ruin that 
awaits it when, by the just judgment of God, it shall be 
destroyed by its enemies. He weeps not over the city on 
account of the destruction of its buildings, but over the 
inhabitants for the misery — the eternal misery — soon to 
befall their souls. Although He is about to die for the 
salvation of all men, yet they, through their own fault, 
will not be saved, but will forever be numbered among the 
reprobate. 

Eeflect how great is the love that Jesus Christ has for 
souls. He is going to shed His blood for all, — for those 
who will be saved, and for those who will be lost. But for 
those who will be lost He sheds, besides His blood, also a 
flood of tears. Now, if J erusalem is a figure of the Church, 
composed of elect and reprobate, can it be that I, perchance, 
am of the number of those whose wickedness draws tears 
from the eyes of our loving Eedeemer? He weeps over 
those who fall from their first fervor and abandon them- 
selves to a life of sinfulness and sloth. Am I, perhaps, 
one of these ? 

most sweet Jesus! I contemplate Thy tears as shed 
especially for me, a child of Thy Church; but one that is 
unfaithful to Thy graces, ungrateful for Thy benefits, in 
danger of everlasting perdition unless I endeavor to im- 
prove my state. Ah! never allow me to be lost. I have 
deserved, and I now deserve, on account of my sins, to be 
in hell. I know it. Dost Thou weep? Weep, therefore, 
for me also, Thou beloved Son of David ; but let Thy tears 
for me be not the tears of affliction which Thou dost shed 
for the reprobate, but tears of consolation that may merit 



24 



JESUS ENTERS JERUSALEM 



for me the spirit of penance that I have need of for my 
salvation. As I am aware, Thou dost rejoice exceedingly 
for one soul alone that returns to Thee truly penitent. 
Grant, then, I implore Thee, that I also may possess that 
penance to which by Thy loving mercy Thou dost call and 
excite me. Through the merits of Thy tears, as well as by 
Thy blood, I hope to be saved. But, as the shedding of 
those tears and of Thy blood is the outcome of that most 
inflamed love which Thou hast for me, I pray Thee, my 
merciful Saviour, to save one that hopes in Thee, and to 
make my hope strong by enkindling in me the love that 
I should have for Thee. If, wanting in love for Thee, I 
regard all other virtues with suspicion, it is that love alone 
which can preserve me, in life and in death, safe from the 
snares of my infernal enemy. 

I shall beseech the most blessed Virgin to offer for me to 
the divine Majesty the tears shed by Jesus Christ, and to 
obtain for me tears of contrition. 

VI. Jesus Christ makes known the affliction of His 
Heart by weeping over J erusalem. Casting a look of tender 
compassion on this unhappy city, He declares that it is for 
this reason that His tears flow, — that she is thoughtless, 
and does not perceive the dangers that menace her. He 
only says, " If thou didst know," as though He should say, 
" if thou knewest, if thou didst but apprehend the wrath 
of God which threatens thee, surely thou wouldst weep and 
wouldst seek some safeguard. This is thy misfortune. 
Thy ruin is near, and thou dost not regard it." 1 

A loving father is grieved, and weeps, on beholding 
his child about to expire because he refuses the remedy 
given for his cure. In like manner does Jesus Christ 
mourn at the sight of that city which has within its reach 
the balsam of salvation, and prefers rather to perish than to 
apply it. He comes as a Saviour to visit Jerusalem and 
to enlighten its people; but these people, enamoured of 
vanity, shut their eyes to the truth, and become unworthy 
of salvation because they neglect the means to secure it. 

(') St. Luke xxi. 



JESUS ENTERS JERUSALEM 



25 



Therefore does Jesus Christ conclude His lamentations 
over it in this manner : Jerusalem, thou wilt perish ; and 
the cause of thy destruction will be that thou didst neither 
foresee thine evils, nor didst thou know thine own good. 

This prediction is a most important warning for me. 
With how many inspirations, with how many lights, how 
many invitations both from within and from without does 
Jesus come to seek me, that I may consider my ways, repent 
of my disorderly life, and devote myself with fervor to the 
acquisition of virtue ! On my correspondence with these 
visits, or my abuse of them, depends my eternal salvation 
or my eternal perdition. How do I act with regard to 
them? 

miserable that I am ! how distracted, how careless, how 
indolent am I ! This present life enchants me ; and as for 
eternity, which is so near, I give it no thought. Willingly 
would I become a saint, but I reject the means of sanctity; 
and experiencing within me a combat between the sorrow- 
ful pleasures of the flesh and the joyful sorrows of the 
spirit, I stand irresolute and can not decide whether I am 
indeed spiritual or carnal. My Jesus, my God, have pity 
on me! Thou knowest the cause of the evil, — that I am 
blind to Thy lights, deaf to Thy voice, cold and insensible 
to the tender affections that Thou inspirest. From the 
depth of my misery I turn to Thee, my merciful and good 
Physician. 

My mortal wound is in my heart, which is filled with the 
spirit and the love of the world. If I have heretofore 
imagined that I entertained some love for Thee, I now 
behold my mistake. I see that I do not truly love Thee. 
My love is feigned, insincere, consisting of words, — and 
nothing more. What shall become of me if I end my days 
in this state? Make me, Lord, profit by Thy mercies 
while there is yet time. 

1 shall set an immense value on the inspirations with 
which God visits me from time to time. I will fear that 
which Jerusalem did not fear — the wrath of God; and I 
will exert myself to commence a new life with great fervor. 



26 JESUS TAKES LEAVE OF HIS MOTHER 



CHAPTER V. 

JESUS CHRIST TAKES LEAVE OE HIS MOTHER. 

I. In the history of the Passion we must insert a pious 
and devout reflection, which is based on strong probability, 
though we do not meet with it in the Gospel. J esus Christ 
had always treated His blessed Mother with reverence and 
obedience, never failing in any of those marks of attention 
that are due from a devoted child. Consequently, it is not 
likely that, as the time for Him to die approached, He 
would leave her to go and perform the greatest of His 
works, without informing her and bidding her farewell. 
Moreover, He had already imparted to her the knowledge 
of other hidden and exalted mysteries on this subject. 

Therefore, we must represent to ourselves Jesus, the 
most loving of all the sons of men, returning to Bethania, 
as He could find no lodgings in J erusalem, and after supper 
withdrawing into a separate room with Mar}', the most 
affectionate of mothers. Jesus is sorely distressed at the 
pain which He is about to give His Mother by what He 
intends to tell her, and Mary is grieved before she hears it, 
having a presentiment of what is to happen to her Son ; 
the conspiracy of the chief priests against Him having been 
made known to her and noised abroad. 

This Son is God, but He is also man; and having been 
pleased to take upon Himself man's infirmities, there can be 
no doubt that on this occasion He feels within Him the 
sorrow that any other man would experience, and this in a 
degree far more severe in proportion to the still greater 
tenderness of His Heart. His soul will be filled with sad- 
ness in the garden, at the thought of being separated from 
His body ; and can we imagine that now He suffers nothing 
at being obliged to part with His most tenderly beloved 
Mother? 

When shall I be touched with compassion, if not at 
present? Behold, my soul, this Son; behold this Mother. 
The Son sighs at having to do that which He has never 
done before, — that is, to cause affliction to His most dear 



JESUS TAKES LEAVE OF HIS MOTHER 27 



Mother ; and the Mother comprehends the meaning of those 
sighs which her most beloved Son breathes forth. On this 
occasion the J ews have no share in the Passion of Jesus and 
Mary. What Jesus suffers is caused by Mary in her relation 
to Him as His Mother. What Mary suffers is caused by 
Jesus in His relation to her as Son. 

Jesus, most amiable Son! Mary, most amiable 
Mother ! poor and miserable though I be, I cast myself at 
your feet. Give me, Mary! a little of that love which 
thou dost bear to Jesus. Give me, Jesus ! a little of the 
love which Thou bearest to Mary. Your reciprocal love 
makes you suffer now; and it is this love that I desire to 
possess, in order that I may be enabled to suffer with you. 
Mother of Jesus, who dost not disdain to be my Mother too, 
and who lovest me with a love far exceeding that of other 
mothers for their children, have pity on me. Thou art full 
of compassion for the miserable, and it is because I am the 
most miserable of all miserable beings that I hope to obtain 
from thee the grace of holy love, which I earnestly implore. 

1 will sympathize with Jesus and Mary in their excessive 
anguish ; and, reflecting that I am the cause of their afflic- 
tion, I shall excite in myself sorrow for my sins, since on 
account of them my Saviour is about to suffer and die. 

II. As Jesus Christ possessed a heart in which tender- 
ness was united to manly fortitude, we may imagine Him 
speaking thus" to Mary in the affectionate language of a 
child, and at the same time with the dignity of a Man-God : 
" The time has arrived, my Mother, when the world is to 
be redeemed by the sacrifice of My life. I shall be delivered 
into the hands of My enemies, who will let loose their 
bitterest rage against Me. I thank thee for the pains and 
toils which thou hast undergone for Me ; and as thou didst 
give thy consent for my Incarnation, so now I desire that 
thou shouldst give it for My death. Be content that I 
leave thee, and go to do the will of My heavenly Father/' 
Thus spoke Jesus. What did Mary say? Overcome with 
grief, she can utter only a few words, and these interrupted 
by sighs and tears : " Dear Jesus, my Father, my Child, 



28 JESUS TAKES LEAVE OF HIS MOTHER 



my All ! Grant that I may go and die instead of Thee ; or, 
at least, let me die with Thee! Can the Father, who is 
almighty, not find other means to redeem the world except 
by Thy death ? " This mystic turtle-dove would gladly 
say more, but weeping prevents her. Comprehending that 
it is impossible for the eternal decrees to be changed, she 
resigns herself with absolute conformity to the divine will, 
with heroic fortitude, obtaining a victory over herself. 
Her grief, however, is most acute. And, my soul, would it 
be possible for thee to see her and not weep ? Oh, who can 
fathom the sorrow of that Son and of that Mother? It is 
impossible, — for the excess of their love is beyond com- 
prehension. 

I must consider the motive that induced Mary to give 
her consent that Jesus Christ should die. It is because He 
dies for me; as, in truth, He suffered death for me in 
particular, no less than in general. She might speak thus 
to her Son : " Who is he that deserves that Thou shouldst 
give Thy precious life for him ? Thou art the Son of God ; 
he is a vile worm." But she says nothing of the sort, — 
and filled with love for me, she consents that her Son 
should go forth to meet a most painful death for me. 

Mother of Fair Love, Mother of Sorrows, how immense 
are my obligations to thee? Thanks for the exceeding 
charity thou hast had for me. I pray the angels in Para- 
dise to give to thee millions of thanks in my name. And 
thou, my heart, what manner of heart art thou if thou dost 
not burn with love for Mary, who is all love for thee, who 
for thy sake is willing to give up even her own Son ? Wilt 
thou in future find it difficult to forsake some sensual 
pleasure, and to mortify thyself for love of her who, for 
love of thee, so lovingly underwent the excruciating mor- 
tification of consenting to the death of Jesus Christ? 

In my meditations on the Passion of Jesus Christ I 
will frequently call to mind the sorrows of Mary, in order 
that I may sympathize with her. Were I to shed a hun- 
dred thousand tears for her sake they would not be worth 
one of those tears that she shed for me. 



JESUS TAKES LEAVE OF HIS MOTHER 29 

III. Mary had endured in advance a long, tedious 
martyrdom, without one hour of peace and calm in her 
troubled heart, on account of the knowledge that had been 
imparted to her from on high relative to the Passion of 
Jesus Christ. But all this is of little or no moment com- 
pared with the agonizing grief that she experiences at bid- 
ding her Son a last farewell. When she lost her Child at 
the age of twelve years she was profoundly afflicted, it is 
true, at not knowing where He was. Still she was consoled 
with the hope of finding Him again, as she did afterward. 
Now she knows whither He is going — that is, to be bound 
with chains, scourged, crowned with thorns, and nailed to 
the cross. Now, she has not a ray of hope left to support 
her; now it is that she feels more sensibly than ever hei 
soul pierced by that sword of which holy Simeon had fore- 
warned her. 

On account of His Passion, which she foresaw, Jesus had 
been a torture to her; but, at the same time, He had been 
her delight by His most sweet conversation; since, wher- 
ever He went, she accompanied Him. What, then, will be 
her anguish when she is forced to renounce Him altogether ? 

thou true Lily among thorns, Lily of purity and charity ! 
She is a mother and a widow, — one whose affections both 
by nature and grace are most tender ; and now she beholds 
her innocent, her only Son, about to die in the flower of 
His age, — that Son in whom, as He is likewise her true 
God, all her treasure is and all her love. Who will give 
tears to my eyes that I may condole with this object of 
compassion? Mary! let that abiding grief which thou 
hast in thy heart be implanted in my own. 

But once more let us turn our thoughts to Jesus. He 
abandons His beloved Mother with the most poignant an- 
guish, for love of me, that He may go in search of me, His 
lost sheep. Oh, what love He has for me ! What return do 

1 make for it? I fly from Him when He seeks me, and 
when He has found me I leave Him again. I leave Him to 
follow my depraved appetites; and for love of Him I can 
not give up a trifling worldly phantasy of my own, one little 



30 JESUS CHRIST AT HIS LAST SUPPER 



opinion that I have advanced, one single worthless gratifi- 
cation. Oh, ingratitude ! Oh, perverseness ! 

loving Shepherd and Saviour! I humble myself in 
Thy presence. I repent of my wicked folly. I am grieved 
that I have been so ungrateful as to abandon Thee, and 
that I have loved creatures more than Thee. I acknowledge 
that I have done an evil thing to turn from Thee, the 
sovereign Good ; and in Thy great mercy I entreat Thee to 
forgive me. sweet Jesus! I cry to Thee for pity and 
mercy through that grief which Thou didst experience in 
leaving Thy Mother, and by that which Thy Mother felt in 
separating from Thee. When I followed my senses and 
wandered far from Thee, I lost myself most miserably. I 
beseech Thee, Lord, to seek and find me once more, and 
I promise never again to stray from Thee nor to leave Thee. 

With gratitude I shall recall the sorrows that Jesus and 
Mary suffered for me; and I will testify my thankfulness 
by willingly enduring any adversity that may come to me 
from divine Providence, and likewise, by making use of 
some voluntary penance. 



CHAPTEB VI. 

JESUS CHRIST AT HIS LAST PASCHAL SUPPER. 

I. Jesus Christ having been at all times, even to the 
end of His life, obedient to the Law in its minutest detail, 
takes care not to fail in anything that is ordered with 
respect to the Paschal solemnity; but He has before His 
mind only the idea of another Passover, more conducive to 
the glory of God and more advantageous to us. The Pass- 
over among the Jews was a commemoration of their having 
passed from a state of bondage under Pharaoh to liberty. 
We view it as a mystical figure of our passing from a state 
of sin to grace, from perdition to glory. This — our eternal 
salvation, — this is the Passover so ardently desired by Our 
Saviour. Though to Him this Passover and His own death 



JESUS CHRIST AT HIS LAST SUPPER 31 



are one and the same, yet it is a time that He loves ; as He 
has frequently spoken of it, and always with expressions of 
most vehement longing for its approach. 

I will reflect, that Jesus Christ being pleased to celebrate 
the Passover with His disciples, they quickly prepare for 
it in the manner they have been directed ; and what is the 
Passover that I also should desire and sigh for with the 
most intense earnestness ? As the name, my soul ! signi- 
fies a passage, this is the Passover that God orders thee to 
observe : namely, a passage from that inordinate love which 
thou entertainest for earthly, perishable things, to the love 
of things heavenly and eternal. Oh, happy Passover for 
us, if we are diligent in making this passage. Arise 
promptly, — why dost thou delay to pass from tepidity to 
fervor, from vanity to truth, from the life of the world to 
a perfect Christian life ? 

Behold me, Lord, attentive to Thy inspiration. I return 
thanks for the dolorous Passover which Thou art about to 
keep for me, and I desire to imitate Thee and to keep a true 
Passover, such as I have need of, by a complete change of 
life. Blessed be Thy mercy, which has deigned to open my 
ears to hear Thy voice and my eyes to receive Thy light. 
I am ashamed and I repent of those vain and miserable 
pleasures in which I have so sadly wasted my time. For 
love of Thy love I accuse myself of them in the bitterness 
of my soul, in order that henceforth Thou alone mayest be 
my sweetness and my love. No longer shall I remain as I 
have been. I renounce thee, world, with all thy pride and 
vain-glory. I renounce thee, flesh, with thy wicked con- 
cupiscences. I renounce thee, Satan, with thy flattery and 
deceit. My God, my soul, my eternal salvation, — these 
shall be the constant objects of my thoughts and affections. 

But of what am I thinking that I should speak with so 
great confidence, as though I were able to answer for the 
steadfastness of my resolutions ? Ah, my Jesus ! if I 
observe this Passover of which I speak by escaping from 
the slavery of my tyrannical passions and entering into 
the liberty of Thy elect children, the glory will redound to 



32 JESUS CHRIST AT HIS LAST SUPPER 



Thee alone: since it will be solely the effect of that grace 
which Thou hast purchased for me, and which I now beg 
of Thee with humility and confidence, relying only on Thy 
superabundant merits. I shall reflect on the urgent neces- 
sity that I have to reform my tepid, careless manner of 
life; and I will excite myself to an ardent desire of this 
reformation as a preparation for meditating with fruit on 
the Passion of Jesus Christ, a mystical figure of which is 
presented to us in His Last Supper. 

II. The Apostles, aware of the longing with which 
Jesus Christ looked forward to the approaching Passover, 
inquire, on the morning of Holy Thursday, where they 
should make ready the Supper at which the Lamb was to be 
sacrificed. In obedience to the Law, which orders that the 
Passover should be celebrated nowhere but in the holy city. 
He makes choice of Peter and John — the loving and the 
beloved among His disciples, — and directs them to go to 
a certain street to find a certain man, to whom they shall 
say in His name : The Master saith : My time is near at 
hand; with thee I make the Pasch with my disciples. 1 
They obey; they go and find the man; and everything is 
soon arranged. 

In the first place let us reflect how Jesus Christ, the 
sovereign Lord of heaven and earth, has become so poor for 
us as to have neither house nor lodging in Jerusalem, and 
to be obliged to keep the Passover in the house of another. 
He had said as much sometime previously : that " the foxes 
have holes, and the birds of the air have nests ; but the Son 
of man hath not where to lay His head/ 52 What confusion 
should this not cost me, — I who am so attached to my little 
comforts; so fastidious, and quick to complain if I stand 
in want of anything. poverty of spirit, love of poverty, 
so requisite for all who aspire to heavenly treasures, where 
are you to be found in my interior? Secondly, let us re- 
flect also on the honor conferred upon the unknown master 
of that house by the choice which Jesus Christ made of it 
for the celebration of this augusl ceremony, and on bis 

(0 St. Matt, xxvi, 18. (*) St. Luke ix, 58. 



JESUS CHRIST AT HIS LAST SUPPER 33 



heroic obedience. Knowing, as he must have done from 
the public decree made by the rulers of the synagogue 
against Jesus Christ, that he will inevitably encounter 
persecutions and losses as soon as it is noised abroad that 
he has given Him entertainment, he, nevertheless, re- 
ceives Him with the most obliging courtesy, without regard 
to his own danger or to any other human motive. 

Jesus Christ, in His great goodness, makes to me also 
the same sweet announcement, — that He desires to come 
into my house, into my soul, there to celebrate His Pass- 
over ; that is, to effect my eternal salvation. What a favor, 
that the Son of the most high God should condescend to 
remember me and to honor me with a visit ! Ah, my Lord ! 
since it seems good to Thee, enter this my house ; its three 
apartments — my memory, my understanding, and my will, 
— are all at Thy disposal. My only regret is that it is not 
worthy of Thee ; but I entreat Thee to make it worthy, by 
adorning it with Thy choicest virtues. yes, my Jesus, 
come, for I expect Thee. My heart is entirely Thine. I 
know that in consequence of this I shall suffer persecutions 
both from the devil, from the world, and from my own 
rebellious human nature; but I rely upon Thy assistance, 
and fear nothing. 

I shall watch over myself in order to break the attach- 
ments that bind me to earthly things ; and that I may be 
a follower of Jesus Christ, I shall fortify myself against 
human respect, imploring at all times the divine protection. 

III. Every year Jesus Christ had faithfully celebrated 
the Passover, and always with sentiments most worthy of 
His religious heart, looking upon the lamb about to be 
sacrificed as a figure of His own sacrifice which was to be 
made upon the cross. But at this last Passover, when these 
figures are about to end, and the Scriptures concerning 
Him to be fully accomplished, He contemplates the reality 
that these figures represent and which, in fact, will this 
very night begin to be fulfilled. According to the Law, 
the Paschal lamb is offered by Him on the evening of Holy 
Thursday. On that same night He is overwhelmed with 



34 JESUS CHRIST AT IJIS LAST SUPPER 



fear, so that this night is virtually the commencement of 
His Passion and Crucifixion. Let us, with devout atten- 
tion, place ourselves in spirit at this Supper, and our 
gracious Lord will not permit our souls to go away fasting. 
What must Jesus Christ say, as He sits at this table and 
beholds the mystic lamb slain and roasted on the dish; 
and as He cuts it in pieces to distribute it among His 
disciples, He reflects on Himself as the true Lamb without 
spot, who is soon to be crucified and slain? This was a 
solemnity without parallel, — in which met shadow and 
light ; the figure and the truth ; that is, the figure, and that 
which was prefigured. 

At the sight of that lamb, the memorial of the first Pass- 
over which took place in Egypt, Jesus Christ reflects that 
His Passover has come, — when He is to pass from this 
world to His Father. Knowing that the figures of the Old 
Law are fulfilled in His own person, and that the time has 
now arrived when animals are no longer to be immolated in 
honor of the Deity, He humbles Himself in His human 
nature and offers Himself to the Most High, praying to 
Him that as heretofore He looked with pleasure on the 
offerings of lambs for the sake of what they represented, 
so now He will still more graciously accept the sacrifice of 
Himself which He is about to make for the salvation of 
souls. Oh ! how many profound mysteries are there, espe- 
cially of love, in this one mystery ; since in this the Old Law 
is terminated, and the New Law of grace takes its place. 

What thanks can I render to Thee, Eternal Father, for 
having been born in a land in which reigns, in which is 
known, Thy Catholic faith, and in which Thou art honored 
by the oblation of the true Lamb — Thy most holy Son? 
I offer Him to Thee for my sins with the same sentiments 
as those with which He offered Himself at that Supper for 
the sins of the whole world. And what can I offer to Thy 
infinite Majesty more precious or more worthy of accept- 
ance by Thee as an odor of sweetness? There is nothing 
more pleasing, more acceptable, to Thee than that sacred 
Humanity. Why, then, should it not induce Thee to have 



JESUS CHRIST AT HIS LAST SUPPER 35 



pity on my frailties ? This is that sacrifice of justice which 
Thou art pleased should be offered to Thee in Thy Church, 
and through which Thou wilt have us firmly trust in Thee. 
Therefore, in Jesus Christ and through Jesus Christ, I 
hope for the forgiveness of my sins; I hope for grace, I 
hope for glory ; and, what is more, I hope that this my hope 
will never be disappointed nor confounded. 

Frequently I shall offer Jesus Christ to the Eternal 
Father, with a lively conviction that He is my abundant 
propitiation ; and I shall say, in the words of St. John the 
Baptist : Behold the Lamb of Ood, behold Rim who talceth 
away the sin of the world} 

IV. When we apprehend the approach of some great 
trouble, we are disturbed and vexed. This is not the case 
with Jesus Christ. He knows that His Passion is at hand ; 
that its approach is to be reckoned no longer by days, but 
by hours. However, His soul is calm, and by this He mani- 
fests that He is the true Son of God and the Saviour of the 
world. He does not try to avoid death, but waits for it with 
intrepidity. And as a father, on the eve of his departure 
for a distant land, speaks to his children with more affec- 
tion and tenderness than customarily, so Christ, at this 
Last Supper, speaks to His Apostles with more extraordi- 
nary sweetness. 

He gives them a detailed account of what will occur that 
very night in order that they may not afterward be taken 
by surprise, as by something that happens unawares; and 
that they may know, when they see Him going to suffering 
and to death, that He goes because it is His own free choice 
to do so. He explains to them the mystery of Eedemption, 
which by His doctrine and miracles He had commenced and 
was to complete by His Passion and death. Then He ex- 
claims with effusion of heart, and in a tone of joy: with 
desire I have desired; that is, I have been burning with the 
wish to eat this Pasch with you: 2 that is, the Passover of 
this year, the last that I shall eat with you ; and this is the 
reason why it is so dear to Me : because it is at this Supper 

0) St. John i, 29. (2) St. Luke xxii, 15. 



36 JESUS CHRIST AT HIS LAST SUPPER 



that I shall purchase eternal life for all the children of 
Adam. 

Let us reflect whence conies this ardent desire of Jesus 
Christ to celebrate this Passover. This desire proceeds 
from love. Because He was always filled with exceeding 
love for our souls, explains why He had so vehement a 
longing for this Passover which fell on the eve of His death, 
as now His eager desire will be satiated to found the new 
kingdom of His Church, and thus provide us with all the 
means necessary for our eternal salvation. 

most loving Saviour, if in any way I did but corre- 
spond with that most vehement desire that possesses Thee 
for my sanctification and salvation, with a sincere and 
constant desire of being sanctified and saved, how different 
would be my conduct from what it really is! I would 
indeed wish to be good and to do good, and to strive after 
perfection and save my soul. Yes, I would wish it : but my 
desires are like a variable wind, that comes and goes. This 
is a consequence of my inconstant will. A person who 
truly desires something will make use of the requisite 
means to attain his end. I, however, pass my days, one 
after another, in a state of wretched indolence, doing little 
or nothing of what I should do. good Jesus! kindle 
Thy love within my breast, and then there will be likewise 
kindled in me the desire to please Thee in every way. I 
actually desire to please Thee, but my will is too weak and 
inconstant. To Thee it appertains to render it strong in 
resolving, and faithful in accomplishing, what is right. 
From Thee I expect the strength to fulfil this, so that I 
may at last become truly holy in this life, and forever 
blessed in the life to come. 

As Jesus Christ for love of me ardently desired His 
Passion, so I, for love of Him, on my side will animate my- 
self to the desire of meditating upon and imitating it ; 
since in this sanctity consists, and on this eternal life 
depends. 



JESUS CHRIST WASHES HIS APOSTLES 9 FEET 3? 



CHAPTER VII. 

JESUS CHRIST WASHES THE FEET OF HIS APOSTLES. 

I. When the Supper was over at which the lamb had 
been eaten, but before the table was cleared, Jesus Christ 
rises, lays aside His mantle, girds Himself with a towel, 
and, having put water into a basin, begins to wash the feet 
of His disciples. He does all this by Himself, not choos- 
ing to be assisted by any one in performing this office. 
The Evangelist, before relating this fact, sets forth the pro- 
found wisdom of Our Saviour, the Divinity of His person, 
His eternal generation, and the infinite power that He has 
over all things in the world. All this is full of mystery, for 
this washing of the feet is, as it were, a prelude to His 
Passion; and as throughout the Passion we must bear in 
mind who it is that surfers, so now we should consider who 
this Person is that washes the disciples' feet, since it is 
impossible to comprehend how profound is His humility if 
we do not raise our thoughts to contemplate the exceeding 
greatness of His dignity. 

St. John, before declaring to us the Incarnation of the 
Word, speaks of His Divinity that we may have an idea of 
the humility of the Son of God when we behold Him stoop 
so low from such a height. Therefore, when he comes to 
the description of His Passion, he again calls our attention 
to His Divinity, so that a brighter lustre may be given to 
His humility; and before coming to the humiliation of 
His cross, he tells us of the humility He displayed at the 
Last Supper, when the Lord of the universe humbled Him- 
self to wash the feet of His Apostles. 

my soul, dost thou understand ! The Son of God came 
down from heaven to earth to save a lost world ; and as the 
world was lost through pride, in order to save it He opposes 
His humility to this pride. Behold now the King of kings, 
the Almighty on His knees, before these poor fishermen, 
washing their feet with His sacred hands, doing them the 
service of the meanest slave. Cry out, — profound, 



38 JESUS CHRIST WASHES HIS APOSTLES' FEET 



astounding humility ! Then ask thyself : if this is true, 
can humility be a thing to be ashamed of ? 

my God, Thy humility amazes me! With this ex- 
ample present to my eyes, I am exceedingly abashed at my 
own repugnance to humiliation. This repugnance is a 
manifest evidence of my pride : for whence comes it that I 
am ashamed to yield a trifling point of honor, to renounce 
some chimerical opinion of my own, to support with meek- 
ness a slander, or an injurious word, or any wrong inflicted 
upon me? The sole cause of all this is that I am too 
proud; and my pride must be great in proportion to the 
greatness of the confusion and the difficulty I experience 
in humbling myself. What, then, my Lord ! must I do 
to obtain humility, which is indispensable for my eternal 
salvation? I humble myself now in Thy presence, to im- 
plore it of Thee as a gift of Thy grace. Through the merits 
of Thy most profound humiliation of Thyself at the Sup- 
per, take from me, I beseech Thee, the spirit of that ac- 
cursed pride and give me the treasure of Thy holy humility. 
I shall endeavor to have a right conception of this truth: 
— that I am full of pride, have no humility, and do not 
even know what humility means. Consequently, in all my 
prayers I shall never cease laboring to obtain it from God. 

II. The Evangelist not only relates the washing of the 
feet ; he, moreover, gives the reason for it. It is this : he 
says that Jesus Christ knows that He is the true Son of 
God, and knows that the Eternal Father has placed the 
entire universe in His hands. At first sight, we do not 
remark the connection between this lofty motive and the 
low, insignificant action that follows. Nevertheless, there 
is to be found in it a mysterious and important lesson 
for us. 

The first of the Beatitudes pronounced by Our Saviour 
is poverty of spirit: by which is understood, in the first 
place, humility, to which especial glory is promised. In 
the second place, detachment from the things of the world, 
which has for its appropriate reward the possession of 
heavenly riches. Therefore, when the Son of God abases 



JESUS CHRIST WASHES HIS APOSTLES' FEET 39 



Himself so far as to wash the feet of His Apostles, He 
intends to teach us that we must trample pride under foot 
and that humility is a virtue worthy of God. Again, as 
He washes their feet with those very hands into which the 
Father has given dominion over all things in the world, He 
teaches us in like manner that we must not keep the world 
in our heart, but under our feet. Or, as the Apostle ex- 
plains it, we must live with our heart fixed not on earth, 
but in thought and affection raised to an eternal life in 
heaven, where our conversation should be. 

Eeflect, my soul, on this point, which is of vital impor- 
tance. When God created man He made him lord of the 
world, and placed all created things under his feet. By 
this He intended to teach him that, being destined for 
eternal happiness, he should look upon all the things of 
time as beneath him, bestowing upon them neither his 
esteem nor his love. But by the sin of Adam the desires 
of man became irregular and turned away from their right 
course ; — and what does Jesus Christ do, when He comes to 
reform and to save him ? He who has the entire world in 
His hands, by washing the Apostles' feet, intends to say: 
Behold what he must do who wishes to be saved. He must 
value the world at what it really is, trampling under his 
feet all earthly things. 

But how, my God, do I observe this Thy lesson? I 
am precisely one of those whose head and heart are filled 
with the world, and what will Thy plentiful Eedemption 
profit me if I still erroneously prefer temporal things to 
those that are eternal ? This attachment to the earth puts 
me on a level with the brute creation. Where is my good 
sense, where is my reason, when I forget heaven and set my 
heart on a shadow, — on smoke, on nothingness? Correct, 
Lord! my conduct, I beseech Thee, and acknowledging 
that it is to Thee, my Creator, my Eedeemer, my last End, 
that I am indebted for my whole being, take away from me 
all human, earthly love, and make me use these fleeting 
goods only as means for acquiring those that are eternal. 

I shall examine what are the things of the world to 



40 JESUS CHRIST WASHES HIS APOSTLES' FEET 



which I am attached ; and, obedient to the lesson taught by 
J esus Christ, I will resolve that no longer shall my heart be 
under the dominion of vanity, which it ought to despise, 
and tread under foot. 

III. Jesus Christ, going from one to another, in his turn 
kneels before Peter. This Apostle seeing prostrate at his 
feet Him whom, a short time before, he had confessed to be 
the Son of the living God, is lost in astonishment at such 
humility. He recollects what he believes of Him and what 
he knows of his own lowliness ; and, as it were, beside him- 
self and stupefied, he exclaims : " Thou, Lord, wash my 
feet? Thou do this to me? Thou, the God of Majesty and 
Glory, wash the feet of a vile creature ? The Lord of lords, 
God Almighty, perform this action for a miserable sinner, 
— : a miserable sinner like myself ? " 

We can not imagine how agreeable to the Son of the 
Most High, who looks with favor on the humble and 
rejects the proud, was the humility of the fervent Apostle. 
But as humility is not to be commended when it refuses to 
obey, our most gracious Lord exhorts him to obedience and 
persuades him thereto, saying, that although at present he 
may not understand the mystery of this action, he will soon 
know : meaning that he will no longer wonder at the onry- 
begotten Son of the Eternal Father washing the feet of 
fishermen with water, when he shall see, as he will in the 
near future, the same Son of God wash the unclean souls of 
sinners with His own blood. Peter, however, as he knew 
not as yet the mystery of the Passion, confounded at be- 
holding the Deity thus humbled, persists firmly and obsti- 
nately in his refusal, protesting that on no account will he 
ever consent that He, his Sovereign Lord and Maker, should 
wash the feet of so poor and insignificant a creature as 
he is. 

I must reflect on the important lesson which the humility 
of St. Peter affords me. When I meditate on the humility 
that Jesus Christ teaches me by precept and example, I see 
clearly enough that it is my duty to be humble ; but how 
can I be humble in practice when I am so ignorant of the 



JESUS CHRIST WASHES HIS APOSTLES' FEET 41 



theory of this virtue, that I do not actually know in what 
it properly consists ? Blessed, then, be the Apostle who, in 
two words, explains to me both the theory and practice of 
true humility. The whole secret is, to realize in myself 
and to be profoundly penetrated with two things: What 
art Thou, my God, and what am I? 

But who is there that is able to enlighten my darkness, 
to know what Thou art, and what I am, but Thou alone, 
my God? This is a grace which I must expect from Thee 
through Thy goodness and mercy; since this knowledge is 
a good exceeding great, on which depends my eternal salva- 
tion, and every good gift proceeds from Thee; since of 
myself I possess nothing but what is evil. Most humble 
and most glorious Jesus, inspire me with thoughts worthy 
of Thee; then I shall be able to comprehend what I must 
think of myself. 

Humility is manifested by trial, — and the surest test of 
humility is obedience and docility. Therefore, I shall obey 
my superiors ; and, moreover, I shall be docile to my equals 
and inferiors. 

IV. Peter remains steadfast in his resolution not to 
allow his feet to be washed, for it appears to him that this 
is the effect of well-regulated zeal and that it is better for 
him to resist than to yield. Hence, Jesus Christ is no 
longer satisfied with his humilit}^, which is wanting in 
condescension, and beholding him obstinately determined 
to be guided by indiscreet fervor rather than b}^ holy 
obedience, He is angry with him, and thus He threatens 
him severely : If I wash thee not, thou shalt have no part 
with me. 1 This is as much as saying that He will banish 
him from His company, cut him off from the Sacraments, 
and from all share in His kingdom. A fearful menace ! 

Peter on hearing it understands the matter perfectly, for 
he loves and desires nothing so much as to be always with 
J esus. A conflict arises within him between love and fear ; 
but rather than be separated from his Master he surrenders 
immediately, and offers not only his feet to be washed but 

0) St. John xiii, 8, 



42 JESUS CHRIST WASHES HIS APOSTLES' FEET 



also his hands and his head. At first, he was full of fervor 
in refusing to be washed: now he is still more full of 
fervor in obeying and submitting to everything for the 
great and generous love that he entertains for his divine 
Master. 

Let us reflect on this. Peter was so positive in his idea 
that it was an unworthy and unbecoming thing that he 
should allow the Son of God to wash his feet that no one 
could convince him to the contrary, still less force him to 
yield. And, indeed, to judge the matter by human reason, 
which sees not beyond the surface, who would not think it a 
duty of civility resolutely to oppose a person of so high 
dignity who would wish to wash his feet like a servant? 
But notwithstanding the immense repugnance that Peter 
has to it, sooner than offend Our Lord and be deprived of 
His grace, he obeys at once. 

This is the fruit that I must draw from the example 
before us. how fond I am of adhering to my own 
opinion, of maintaining my little points of etiquette; how 
I cling to my own judgment of things, without respect 
either to what the will of God or the love of Jesus Christ 
would direct me to do. Again, now reluctant am I to re- 
nounce any pursuit in which I may be engaged, though 
urged to do so by inspirations from God, by good advice 
and warnings from those who hold the place of God in my 
regard, — superiors, confessors, preachers. 

my God ! how frequently have I thought more of put- 
ting into execution some favorite notion of my own than 
of performing Thy will; regardless of my own obstinacy 
and waywardness, and disguising it to myself under the 
pretext of justice and zeal, or under the appearance of 
charity and humility. It was nothing but pride. I now 
repent and accuse myself of it. Strip me, I beseech Thee, 
merciful Jesus ! of this inordinate self-love, which con- 
stantly leads me into sin and places me in imminent danger 
of perdition. 

1 shall no longer prefer my judgment to that of supe- 
riors ; and I shall not have recourse to sophistry in order to 



JESU8 CUEIST WASHES HIS APOSTLES' FEET 43 

find excuses for disobedience, remembering the danger to 
which St. Peter was exposed, — of having no part with Jesus 
Christ, if he had not obeyed. 

V. The washing of the feet concluded, Jesus Christ re- 
turns to the table and exhorts His Apostles to imitate His 
humility, giving us all to understand that He had humbled 
Himself for the very purpose that He might be imitated. 
In conformity with His constant practice — which is to 
teach in the first place by His example and afterward by 
His word, — He says to them : Know you what I have done 
to you? You call me Master and Lord; and you say well, 
for so I am. If then I, being your Master and Lord, have 
washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. 
For I have given you an example, that as I have done to 
you, so you do also. If you Tcnow these things, you shall 
be blessed if you do them. 1 

The argument is incontestable. If the most high God, 
He who is Lord of the universe, has thus humbled Himself 
to perform the part of the meanest servant, how much more 
should we humble ourselves who are nothing but earth, 
ashes, dust, and mire ? Of all services, washing a person's 
feet is the lowest. Jesus meant to teach us by performing 
this action that we ought to be willing and glad to serve 
one another in less degrading offices, if the occasion presents 
itself ; even to wash one another's feet ; — which, in its true 
moral signification, is the same as saying, we should have 
compassion one for another, and forgive one another's er- 
rors and failings. 

Truly Jesus Christ must greatly esteem the virtue of 
humility, since He came from heaven to earth on purpose to 
teach it. And it is no wonder; since without humility no 
virtue can be acquired or preserved, nor can we obtain salva- 
tion. There are saints in paradise who were neither mar- 
tyrs, nor doctors, nor contemplatives, nor virgins; — but 
there is not a single one there who was not humble. Our 
Saviour is anxious that we should be humble, because He 
desires that we should be saved. How could He make 

0) St. Johnxiii, 12-15, 17. 



44 PREPARATION FOR THE SACRAMENT 

salvation easier, since it is so easy to be humble, His own 
wonderful example alone being sufficient to make us prac- 
tise humility ? 

my Jesus and my God! nothing can be more true, 
nothing more worthy of Thee, than Thy heavenly doctrine. 
I am convinced, firmly persuaded, of this; and, neverthe- 
less, I am not humble, nor do I make use of the means to 
become so. This I must confess, though it is painful and 
disgraceful for me to do so. I appear to love and desire 
this beautiful humility; but in practice, I actually abhor 
it; since, by the overwhelming force of my self-love, when 
opportunities to humble myself are at hand, I despise 
humiliations. How frequently during the day do I trans- 
gress and contemn the holy rules which Thou, my divine 
Master, hast deigned to give me ! Thou hast not taught a 
mere humility of words, but one of feeling, of affection, of 
action, and for this I have not the slightest inclination. I 
am now almost afraid any longer to implore Thy help, since 
it is these very helps that I resist. What will become of 
me, profiting, as I do, neither by what Thou sayest, nor by 
what Thou dost. ye angels and saints of heaven, who are 
in heaven on account of your humility, intercede for me, 
that by my pride I may not cast myself into hell. 

Humility should be practised in resisting temptations to 
be too sensitive with regard to my own feelings; peevish, 
obstinate, and reluctant in obeying those who are above 
me. Moreover I should serve those who are beneath me in 
any manner that I can. If I do this, blessed am I. 



CHAPTEK VIII. 

PREPARATION FOR THE INSTITUTION" OF THE MOST BLESSED 
SACRAMENT. 

I. Throughout the entire Gospel history we do not find 
that, during the thirty-three years of His life, Jesus Christ 
performed any action for which He prepared with such 



PREPARATION FOR TEE SACRAMENT 45 



earnest application of soul as He did for the institution of 
the Most Blessed Sacrament. How frequently did He think 
and speak of it beforehand as a marvelous invention of His 
love, which was wholly intent on the salvation of mankind ! 
What interest did He not take in this action, sending in 
advance two of His favorite Apostles, selecting the guest- 
chamber, and giving all necessary directions relative to it ! 

All this was intended for our instruction. Although we 
should receive the Most Blessed Sacrament but once in the 
course of our lives, we ought to employ the whole of our 
lives in preparation for this one Communion. This is no 
less than what the greatness and dignity of the mystery 
demands. But divine Goodness having arranged that we 
should be permitted to receive it frequently, shall we con- 
sider it too much to make it a duty to prepare for Holy 
Communion by devoting some time to devout meditation? 

The two Apostles who were sent to make the preparations 
for the Last Supper were figures of a holy life — that is, of 
pure faith and fervent charity; which we also should pos- 
sess, if we would worthily approach the holy Table. The 
dining-room, beautifully adorned and ornamented with 
flowers, was likewise a figure of our soul, which, in order 
worthily to entertain as a Guest the most loving and most 
lovable of the sons of men, must be adorned with Christian 
virtues, and be spotless, fair and beautiful. I shall, there- 
fore, reflect in what manner I am accustomed to prepare for 
the heavenly Banquet, — with what virtues, in what spirit, 
and with what fervor. 

Ah ! my J esus, my Lord and my King, I am well aware 
that, in consideration of Thy august Majesty, all possible 
perfection and angelic sanctity ought to be offered to Thee 
in order worthily to receive Thee. I know that the guest- 
chamber of my heart should be prepared with the utmost 
purity and be totally free from the slightest stain. But on 
this account should I be discouraged ? I ought to have and 
desire to have the most elevated sentiments of Thy infinite 
goodness. Therefore, trusting that I may not abuse the 



46 PREPARATION FOR TEE SACRAMENT 



confidence to which Thou dost invite me, I make bold with 
all simplicity to present to Thee one petition. 

When a king purposes to lodge in the house of a poor 
man, he sends before him whatever is requisite to furnish 
it, as far as may be, in royal style. Do Thou the same, 
King of kings, good J esus ! My heart, in which Thou 
dost intend to take up Thy abode, is too confined a hovel, 
too dilapidated, too mean, to be worthy of Thy divine 
Majesty. Therefore, before Thou dost honor it with Thy 
venerable mysteries, send in advance whatever is needed 
to cleanse and embellish it, so that, as far as possible, it 
may become less unworthy of Thee. I can say no more. 
Better than I, Thou knowest what is wanting to me and 
what is suitable for Thee. I lay my soul open to Thee. I 
am thoroughly persuaded that Thou demandest nothing of 
me that is beyond my ability. I have so exalted an idea of 
Thy almighty goodness that I am at the same time con- 
vinced that, with Thy help, I can do great things. 

While preparing for Communion I shall conceive a lively 
desire for those virtues that I do not possess, namely: — 
humility, charity, purity, and the rest. Moreover, I shall 
place my trust in the goodness of God, and believe that He 
will favorably accept and grant my desire. 

II. We may suppose that another reason why Jesus 
Christ washed the feet of the Apostles was because He in- 
tended immediately to institute His venerable Sacrament, 
and to communicate it to them, thus at the same time 
teaching us with what purity we should prepare for this 
great mystery. The eleven Apostles were pure and clean, 
and had only some dust about their feet; nevertheless, He 
removed this dust, and threatened Peter that He would 
exclude him from the holy Table if he did not allow him- 
self to be washed. 

Here let us reflect: what are our feet which we must 
wash in order that we may be pure and in a proper state for 
receiving the Most Blessed Sacrament ? They are the affec- 
tions of our heart, which so easily become soiled by the 
dust of the world and by daily faults of frailty, ignorance, 



PREPARATION FOR THE SACRAMENT 47 



negligence and malice. Therefore, before approaching the 
altar we should carefully examine our conscience — and we 
must pass over nothing lightly, — washing it perfectly clean, 
if we wish to prepare ourselves with the requisite degree of 
purity. It is not enough to be free from mortal sins, we 
must also wash away our venial faults; — reverence due to 
so great a mystery demands this. 

By the washing of the feet of the Apostles we are ad- 
monished that we should go to Confession before approach- 
ing Communion, so that all our imperfections may be 
washed away and that our soul may be washed by the same 
Man-God who washed the Apostles' feet. But in what way 
do I go to Confession? With what diligence do I examine 
my conscience? What sorrow, what purpose of amend- 
ment have I, when I accuse myself of my sins ; and in what 
manner do I endeavor to correct? 

my God! there is not a day in which I do not defile 
myself by my ingratitude, rebellion, and sloth. Although 
I have constant need of being washed, how often do I per- 
suade myself — resting my opinion on dangerous and flatter- 
ing probabilities — that what is in reality sin, is not so ! 
Consequently, in some things I fancy that I am clean, 
when, in fact, I am unclean. My self-love is excessive. I 
am very much afraid that I belong to that class of hypo- 
crites who in their own eyes are clean, though in truth they 
are more polluted than others. Who is there, in fact, who 
stands in more need than I do of being washed, as I am 
covered with dust, — not only my feet, but my hands, my 
eyes, and all my senses, as well as all my interior powers ? 
But behold, my Jesus, I now offer myself unreservedly to 
Thee. Who but Thou canst wash and cleanse me, as Thou 
dost by the Sacraments which Thou hast left to Thy 
Church ? I cry to Thee for mercy ; and with sincere sorrow 
for my past abuse of these Sacraments, I implore of Thee 
the grace, henceforth, so to make use of the Sacrament of 
Penance, that it may be for me a holy preparation for 
Communion. 

1 shall watch over my conscience, that it may not acquire 



48 PREPARATION FOR THE SACRAMENT 



the habit of viewing things according to certain relaxed 
standards. Moreover, I shall earnestly strive to rid myself 
of habitual faults, which are the occasion of the imperfect 
dispositions with which I approach Confession and Com- 
munion. 

III. We must remember what Jesus Christ said at the 
beginning of the Supper: namely, that with most ardent 
desire He had longed for that day, in order that He might 
abrogate the Old Law and adopt the New by the 
institution of His venerable Sacrament. This was the 
object of His ardent desires, — that the hour should arrive 
in which He was to consecrate the mysteries of our con- 
solation and to give to us all, to eat, in place of the corrupti- 
ble lamb, His own sacred Body, the Food of Immortality 
come down from heaven for this end. This hour, then, 
being come which for so long had been the object of His 
sighs and wishes, He immediately gives thanks to His 
heavenly Father with exceeding exultation. 

Let us consider that His desires are recorded in the 
Gospel, that we may zealously be moved to imitate them ; — 
and we have the strongest possible reason to do this. If 
our God, who has no need of us, out of His superabundant 
goodness and charity has so greatly desired to communicate 
Himself to us in the Eucharist, how greatly, on our side, 
ought we to desire to receive Him, as He is our only 
Treasure, containing in Himself all that is most delightful, 
profitable, and honorable! Desire is a species of heart- 
language, that speaks and prays with untold efficacy. 
Hence it is, that in proportion to the warmth of our de- 
sires for this divine Sacrament, shall we receive fruit from 
it and taste its delicious sweetness in our soul. 

But what are my desires when I receive Communion? 
Alas ! I am like the. Jews in the wilderness, who loathed 
the manna that was rained down to them from heaven. 
What indifference, what languor, what tepidity! I open 
my mouth to receive this heavenly Food, more through 
custom than by any movement of devotion — more from 



PREPARATION FOR THE SACRAMENT 49 



human respect than from heartfelt devotion ; and becoming 
familiar to me, it has ceased to be precious. 

my God ! if I consider on one side the intense desire 
that Thou hast to come to me, I am in amazement; for 
what is there in me to make me worthy of being a sanctuary 
for Thy Majesty, or to cause me to be an object of Thy 
delight and love ? On the other side, I am filled with horror 
when I behold the lukewarm, cold manner in which I 
approach to receive Thee. Jesus! desire of the ever- 
lasting hills, nourishment of the elect, most choice Food, 
who art*all lovely, who replenishest with unspeakable de- 
lights those who hunger for Thee, whence is it that I value 
Thee so little, and have so little yearning for Thee ? I do 
not love Thee. This is the reason that I long not for Thee. 
But blind, stupid soul, what dost thou love, what dost thou 
desire, if thou lovest not nor desirest that Lord who is 
sovereign Goodness, and who alone can satiate all thy 
desires ? 

1 shall implore Jesus Christ to give me His love, so that 
one Communion may make me sigh for another. Mean- 
while, I shall offer Him the desires of His Sacred Heart, 
with the desires of all holy souls who are true lovers of His 
Sacrament. 

IV. When Jesus Christ was pleased to institute the 
venerable Sacrament at the Last Supper, the Evangelist 
says that He had His death before His eyes, foreseeing the 
proximate approach of the hour at which He was to pass 
from this world to His Eternal Father. He called this 
Sacrament a testament, to signify that His death was at 
hand. Moreover, he selected the Passover for this institu- 
tion, not because it was the most distinguished of all 
solemnities, and consequently the most proper for the cele- 
bration of His mysteries, but from its denoting His own 
passage; also, for this reason, making choice of the last 
Passover of His life. At the same time He declared to His 
disciples that He would not eat any more with them till the 
kingdom of God should come ; that is, until the new Church 
should be founded by His glorious Eesurrection. Now, 



50 PREPARATION FOR THE SACRAMENT 



what had the remembrance of His death to do with the 
institution of His Sacrament? 

My soulj in this example we have one of the most power- 
ful motives for preparing ourselves well for the holy Table, 
In imitation of Jesus Christ, I also, when about to com- 
municatej shall think of my death. I shall receive Com- 
munion as though it were in preparation for dying and 
departing from this world; as if it were the Viaticum 
which I was receiving in my last illness, and as though this 
Communion were to be the last of my life ; as if I were in 
reality never again to receive the Body of Jesus Christ ; 
having before me only the hope of enjoying Him in heaven 
at the great marriage supper prepared by God for the 
blessed nuptials of the Lamb. 

If I knew for a certainty that the next Communion that 
I shall receive were to be my last, in what manner does it 
now appear to me I should desire to receive it ? Eeceiving 
within me the sovereign Judge, who is soon to pronounce 
on me the final sentence for heaven or hell, who for all 
eternity will be either my happiness or my torment — with 
what humility, purity and devotion would I strive to receive 
Him, at least for this once compensating with all the 
fervor that I am able for past lukewarmness and neglect. 

my God ! engrave this idea deeply in my mind, so that 
each time that I prepare for Communion may be as it were 
the last; remembering that, one time or another, to that 
Communion which shall be my last I have infallibly to 
come, and this when I least think of it. Likewise, in my 
thanksgiving after Communion make me mindful of my 
death, that I may exercise myself in acts of faith, hope, 
and charity, as if I were actually about to die, and had, 
after Communion, to commend my soul into Thy hands. 
good Jesus ! sanctify, I beseech Thee, my heart ; cleanse 
it of all malice, and fill it with Thy grace, in order that, 
feeding on Thee, I may live by Thee and for Thee, so as to 
enjoy Thee eternally hereafter in Thy glory. 

When I come to die, with what Communions shall I be 



INSTITUTION OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT 51 



satisfied? of what Communions shall I repent? I will 
reflect on these two points, and now provide for that time. 



CHAPTEE IX. 

INSTITUTION OF THE MOST BLESSED SACRAMENT. 

I. Jesus Christ, returning to the table after the wash- 
ing of the feet, brings the rites and sacrifices of the Old 
Law to their conclusion, making of Himself a new sacrifice 
by the institution of His Most Blessed Sacrament. He 
might have selected any other time of His life for institut- 
ing it, but He awaited the day previous to His death, imme- 
diately before the commencement of His bitter Passion, in 
order that He might demonstrate in a more striking manner 
the beauty and perfection of His love, and might animate 
our hearts more powerfully to love Him in return. At the 
very time when men are deliberating how to put Him to 
death, He institutes for men a Sacrament which shall be to 
them a fountain of life, — of life so much the more abundant 
as His death is to be more painful. 

Let us ponder the excess of this love. While men are 
devising against Jesus Christ injustices, persecutions, dis- 
honors, outrages and torments, He gives to men, as a legacy, 
the richest treasure that can be found in the storehouse of 
the divine Wisdom and Omnipotence. At the very time 
that men, for their malice and wickedness, most richly 
deserve to be abandoned by Him, He is inventing a mar- 
velous contrivance by which to perpetuate His loving abode 
among men. Oh, astounding kindness and love ! which the 
torrents of men's iniquities, instead of extinguishing or 
decreasing, cause only to break out into a brighter flame. 

T]he Apostle St: Paul, by meditating upon the reflection, 
that neither the scourges, nor the nails, nor any torment: 
whatever had been sufficient to separate Jesus Christ from 
His love for us, was led to break out, on his part, into a 
transport of zeal, and to exclaim that nothing in this world, 



52 INSTITUTION OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT 

however grievous and painful it might be, shall be able to 
separate us from the love of Jesus Christ. In saying this, 
he did not only speak of himself with the zeal of an Apostle, 
but he referred to us also in our character of Christians. 
Notwithstanding, how different, alas! are the sentiments 
which I entertain. 

The love Thou dost bear me, my most loving Saviour, I 
perceive is a love constant in every trial; while the love I 
bear Thee is so weak that the smallest difficulty causes it to 
vanish. Any trifling occasion, any slight temptation, is 
sufficient to separate me from Thee ; — far from supporting 
persecutions and pains for Thy love, I have not resolution 
to mortify even the most insignificant passion for Thee. 
Ah, my Jesus ! who so often comest to me in the adorable 
Sacrament, make me experience the sweetness of Thy 
presence, so that my soul may be animated and strength- 
ened to love Thee better. I humbly ask to love Thee — not 
with a tender love, but with a love strong and solid like that 
which Thou hast for me. 

Doing good to those who injure me will be imitating 
Jesus Christ, who, in conformity with His own holy doc- 
trine, gave us in His Sacrament the totality of every good 
while the utmost evil was being concocted against Him. 

II. St. John mentions the institution of the Most 
Blessed Sacrament in a few short words when he says that 
Jesus Christ, having always had a great love for His own, 
who were in this world, loved them especially at the close 
of His life with a more ardent and vehement love, by leav- 
ing to them a gift — the greatest of all gifts, — in the Sacra- 
ment of the Eucharist, which may be called the Sacrament 
of His ineffable love; and He left them this gift as His 
last, in order that it might make a deeper impression on 
our hearts. 

As the Eternal Father has made known to us the im- 
mensity of His love for us by giving us His only-begotten 
Son, because in giving Him to us He gave us His all, so the 
same Son of God, in token of His excessive love, gave us 
Himself, and in giving us Himself He gave us all that He 



INSTITUTION OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT 53 



possessed; in fact, not being able to give us here in this 
world any gift greater, more expensive, more sweet, or more 
advantageous to us. 

In this admirable Sacrament He has placed at our com- 
mand His own body, His flesh, and His blood, and with 
these His soul, His Humanity, His Divinity, and the 
treasures of His infinite merits. Exert, my soul ! all thy 
vast capacity of thought and conceive within thyself what 
Jesus Christ, the Man-God, could give or leave to thee 
more precious than this His last legacy. It was all done 
to make thee understand to what an excess He really loves 
thee, and how much thou art bound to love Him in return. 

What am I, my God ! that Thou hast so great love for 
me, and dost so earnestly seek to be loved by me ? I am a 
wretched little creature of Thy hand, and I can see in 
myself nothing worthy of Thy almighty Majesty. I won- 
der, therefore, at Thy love in the most august Sacrament. 
But I should wonder still more at myself, who am insen- 
sible to Thy love and not thankful to Thee. my soul ! 
how long shall we remain ungrateful for this most tender 
charity ? J esus, I desire to love Thee and to be grateful 
to Thee. Strengthen, I beseech Thee, my will with Thy 
invigorating grace, for of itself it can not act. 

And what shall I render unto Thee for Thy love ? Thou 
dost give to me all that Thou art, and all that Thou hast. 
In exchange I offer to Thee, in the best way I know and 
am able, all that I am, and have, or ever shall have. I will 
employ all in Thy service. Assist me with Thy grace, that 
in reality I may fulfil the desire that I have to please Thee 
in return for all that I owe Thee for the institution of the 
Most Blessed Sacrament. 

I shall enter into detail, and present my memory, my 
understanding, my will, my eyes, my tongue, etc., and all 
my interior affections, convinced that prayer is worth very 
little which consists of nothing but lofty generalities and 
leads to no practical results. 

III. Jesus Christ our Lord, the High Priest forever, 
prefigured in Melchisedec, who alone, under the Old Testa- 



54 INSTITUTION OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT 

ment, offered to the Most High a sacrifice, not of animals, 
but of bread and wine, as He sits at table takes bread into 
His holy and venerable hands, and raising His eyes to His 
almighty Father, blesses and consecrates it with these 
words: This is my body. 1 In like manner, He takes the 
chalice in which was prepared wine, and says, This is my 
blood. 2 He has no sooner uttered these words than the 
bread is no longer bread, but His real Body ; and the wine 
is no longer wine, but His real Blood. 

We do not inquire how this was possible, or how it was 
done. This would be to imitate the wicked incredulity of 
the Jews. As God made Himself man in the womb of the 
Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Ghost, without the 
help of man, so now, by the same power, is the bread 
changed into the substance of our God made man. Again, 
as in the person of Jesus Christ God was hidden under 
human flesh, which alone was visible, so, in the Blessed 
Sacrament, the Man-God is concealed under the visible 
appearances of bread and wine. Thus in the Incarnation 
as well as in the Eucharist is fulfilled the prophecy that our 
God is a hidden God. My soul, let us not penetrate too 
deeply into reasonings on this subject. Our reason here 
falls short, and faith must supply for it by adoring the 
infinite goodness, the wisdom, and the omnipotence of 
God. 

Therefore, my Lord Jesus Christ ! with all the strength 
and energy of my soul I believe that by the power of Thy 
infallible word Thou art present in the consecrated Host, 
true God and true Man, whole and entire, soul and bod}'-, 
the substance of Thy Divinity united to Thy sacred Hu- 
manity. Thou hast said it, and it is so. Heaven and earth 
will fail, but Thy eternal word will never fail of truth. I 
shall live and die convinced of this firm, unshaken truth. 

I am happy, my hidden God! that I do not behold 
Thee in the Sacrament. I rejoice that I do not understand 
this sublime mystery; therefore, I can do Thee greater 
honor by the humiliation of my senses and of my reason. 

0) St. Mark xiv, 22. (*) Ibid., 24. 



INSTITUTION OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT 55 

If I do not believe with that entire faith which is due to 
Thee, increase it and give it a new impetus within me. 
For the present, I offer to Thee the heroic faith of the most 
illustrious saints of Thy Church; especially of those who 
have shed their blood and given their life in defence of the 
truth of the Most Blessed Sacrament. 

I shall pray Jesus Christ to bestow this manner of faith 
on me, and contrition, devotion, and profound reverence 
corresponding with this faith; not only when I receive 
Holy Communion, but whenever I shall visit Thee, my 
God! in the most august Sacrament. 

IV. Jesus Christ chose bread in preference to other 
substance for the Eucharist, that He might leave it to us 
as a perpetual memorial of His Passion. He had already 
compared Himself to a grain of wheat,; and now, in the 
Sacrament, He wishes us to comprehend that what is done 
to wheat, which is beaten, ground, and pulverized in order 
that it may be made into bread, the same is also done to 
Him when, during the agony of His Passion, He was 
wholly ground and beaten down. Therefore, He expects 
that the Eucharistic Bread should remind us of that im- 
mense love by which He chose to suffer and to die for us 
upon the cross, every Communion giving us an opportunity 
to meditate on His sorrowful Passion. 

The Passion of Jesus Christ is the basis, above all, on 
which rests our hope of eternal salvation. Consequently, 
His Passion being represented and commemorated in the 
Most Blessed Sacrament, with what confidence should not 
this Sacrament inspire us? With good reason does the 
Church, in adoration of this holy Banquet, exultingly de- 
clare that in it is left to us a memorial of the Passion of 
the Son of God and a pledge of our share in His eternal 
glory. For how, in fact, can we doubt of our eternal salva- 
tion when the Saviour belongs entirely to us, having made 
Himself our food to the end that here, in this life, we may 
live one and the same life with Him, and hereafter we may 
live again by His life eternally in heaven ? 

Dost thou, my soul, at times allow thyself to be over- 



56 INSTITUTION OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT 

whelmed by sadness, ruminating dismally with thyself and 
saying : Who knows whether or not I shall be saved ? Ah ! 
trust in thy God made man and given to thee in the Sacra- 
ment. Trust in Him with unwavering confidence. To make 
thee sure of heaven, what couldst thou think of wishing for, 
after Jesus Christ has died for thee and left to thee, as an 
earnest of heaven, not only His merits, but His entire self 
as well? 

Praise, benediction, and thanks be to Thee, my Jesus! 
for the hope of salvation which Thou givest me in Thy 
sacred Passion, which to Thee was so bitter, but is made so 
sweet to me in the Most Holy Sacrament. Now I do not 
see Thee in Thy blessed Majesty, for as yet it is hidden; but 
I hope soon to behold Thee face to face in heaven. Yes, 
yes, I hope for the glory of Paradise; and with such un- 
bounded assurance do I hope, that nothing shall be able to 
cause me to fear, thanks to that Bread of eternal life which 
Thou hast prepared for me on Thy holy Table to comfort 
and support me in all my trials. I might fear that salva- 
tion — of which I have full security, as far as regards Thy 
share in it — should be forfeited by my fault if I neglect 
the means requisite for obtaining it. With respect to this, 
also, I place my confidence in the power of Thy glorious 
Sacrament, which shall be to me all in all, light, and 
strength. 

Before and after Communion I shall recollect the suffer- 
ings undergone for me by Jesus Christ. My Communions 
will be devout and fruitful in proportion to my efforts to 
excite within myself holy affections on His sorrowful 
Passion. 

V. There is another reason why Jesus Christ instituted 
the Eucharist under the form of bread rather than of any 
other food. Bread is composed of grains collected together, 
then ground into flour, and kneaded. Therefore has He 
taken it as the matter of this Sacrament, which is a symbol 
of that union, peace, and charity which His followers should 
strive to maintain with one another. Moreover, He has also 
ordered that, when we approach the altar, if we are not in 



INSTITUTION OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT 57 



charity with our neighbor we should first go and be recon- 
ciled; because charity is what He loves and has at heart 
more than anything else. 

The very name of Communion expresses this. The word, 
indeed, first signifies the reciprocal or common union be- 
tween Jesus Christ and the soul, but it equally denotes the 
like union between us and our neighbors; so that a man 
does not, in truth, receive Communion if he is not at peace 
and in union with all. The Most Holy Eucharist is a 
mystery of fraternal charity, and it is this very charity that 
constitutes the essential spirit of Christianity. 

But as charity can not subsist without humility, remark 
the example of humility that Jesus Christ gives us at the 
same time in the Eucharist. Profound, indeed, was His 
humility in the Incarnation when He made Himself lowly, 
confining to the limits of the person of a man His immense 
greatness, which the utmost bounds of heaven can not con- 
tain. But in the Eucharist it is far more profound ; there 
He encloses, under the appearance of bread, both His 
Divinity and Humanity. This is truly a marvel, — that the 
Man-God should have condescended to become the food of 
men. How could the Eternal Word, the Food of angels in 
glory, by any possibility come down so low as to make Him- 
self bread in order that He might be eaten by man ? 

With what sincerity, then, should I from my very heart 
at Communion repeat those words, Domine, non sum dig- 
nus, as a protestation of my unworthiness to receive my 
Lord and God! Still more notable is my unworthiness 
when viewed in the light of Thy humility, since Thou be- 
ing God most high dost conceal Thy greatness in the Sacra- 
ment, and I, a vile worm, proudly love and long to show 
myself. I would wish to humble myself as Thou dost ; but 
as I am of myself a miserable nothing, whither can I de- 
scend lower than this my nothingness ? 

Ah, my J esus ! who dost breathe but humility and charity 
in the Blessed Sacrament, impart to me that humility at 
least which is necessary to enable me to live in charity with 
my neighbor. I confess my past transgressions, and that on 



68 JESUS CONFERS POWER OF CONSECRATING 



account of my pride alone I have never possessed a spark 
of that charity which Thou dost command. But now, I 
beseech Thee, have pity on me and help me by Thy grace. I 
offer to Thee my resentments and my wounded feelings; 
I offer Thee my heart, and I pray Thee so to dispose it that 
henceforth I may love Thee perfectly and love my neighbor 
for love of Thee. 

Before and after Communion I shall occupy myself in 
making acts of humility, acknowledging my own unworthi- 
ness, and in acts of charity resolving that, for the future, 
peace shall not be broken or disturbed through my fault 
with any one, whoever it may be. 



CHAPTEE X. 

JESUS CHRIST GIVES THE SACRAMENT AND THE POWER OF 
CONSECRATING TO HIS APOSTLES. 

I. After having changed the bread into His own Body 
and the wine into His own Blood, Jesus Christ, as the first 
and great High Priest of His Church, communicates first 
to Himself the Blessed Sacrament, then, with marks of the 
most tender affection, gives it to the Apostles. He directs 
each to take his own portion, thus conferring on them the 
sacerdotal dignity and ministry which they at once begin to 
exercise, by each one giving to himself Communion 
with his own hand. Consider here the dignity, the perfect 
order, and the charity with which Jesus performs this re- 
ligious rite, — than which nothing could possibly be more 
conducive to devotion. what delight, what sweetness, 
does He experience at this Supper, at which He is at one 
and the same time the Giver of the Banquet, and the Ban- 
quet itself ! 

The Apostles, whose minds are possessed by a clear light 
of faith, would not have dared touch, still less put into 
their mouth, this most august Sacrament ; but Jesus Christ 
commands it and they obey, notwithstanding the conscious- 



JESUS CONFERS POWER OF CONSECRATING 59 



ness of their un worthiness. Who now can conceive the 
humility with which, as was most fitting, they receive 
within themselves the Saviour of the world at this first of 
Communions? Who can imagine the sweetness of those 
tears of affection and compunction which they shed, or the 
marvelous effects of consolation and fervor produced in 
their hearts? 

If the Apostle St. Peter acknowledged and confessed 
Jesus Christ to be God by the simple power of a single 
discourse, which He had just heard upon the Eucharist, oh ! 
what a flood of light will he not receive at the actual institu- 
tion of it ? I recall to mind how the same Peter displayed 
his feelings when, with his knowledge of the Divinity of 
Jesus Christ, he would not consent that He should come 
near to him, a sinner, nor that he should attempt to wash 
his feet. What, then, must he say now, on beholding his 
Master, the Man-God, choosing to come into his breast and 
entering into his very body ? It is difficult to answer this 
question. Nevertheless, I must learn from him in what 
manner to approach the Holy Communion with fear and 
love. I shall not fail to fear and love, if I only meditate on 
the excellence of the royal and divine Food that I receive at 
the holy Table. 

my J esus, great God and Lover of the humble ! infuse 
into me those sentiments of esteem and reverence with 
which Thou didst receive Thyself. In return I shall offer 
to Thee all those gifts of grace which Thou wilt be pleased 
to grant me. eternal Truth, true Love, and beloved 
Eternity, my God, hear the voice of my sighs ! glorious 
Apostles ! obtain for me from the Lord those sentiments of 
humility and charity which you had before and after that 
first Communion, so that every Communion of mine may 
redound to the glory of God and be fruitful to myself. 

In proportion to our faith will also be the devotion with 
which we make our preparation and thanksgiving for Com- 
munion. Therefore, I shall ask of God to give me faith, 
and I shall frequently revolve in my mind what motives are 
proper to excite it. 



60 



JESUS CONFERS POWER OF CONSECRATING 



II. When the Son of God made Himself Man, that He 
might dwell among men, He came forth from the bosom of 
His Father without leaving His Father. Isow that the time 
has arrived for Him to return to His Father, He has de- 
vised a way to go from among men without leaving men; 
that is, by instituting the Sacrament of the Eucharist and 
by giving the power of consecration not to the Apostles 
only, but to all priests, their successors in the Catholic 
Church. What I have done, He says to them, namely, con- 
secrating my Body and Blood, do you also do; I only desire 
that whenever you shall do it, you do it in commemoration 
of Me. 1 almighty words ! full of truth and charity really 
divine ! 

What a rare consolation it is for us every day to assist at 
holy Mass, and witness the celebration of the very same 
mystery that was celebrated at the Last Supper, and to 
offer to the Eternal Father the very same sacrifice that was 
offered on Calvary; renewing and collecting the fruit of 
that most excellent oblation, the most meritorious, the most 
lovely, the most acceptable that could possibly be made to 
the divine Majesty ! What a rare consolation for us to have 
always in our churches Jesus Christ Himself, and every 
convenience to visit and to receive Him whenever we please. 
Thus we are enabled continually to adore and praise the 
Lamb without spot, as the blessed do in heaven ! Could our 
Lord give us more — He has given us Himself, and that 
forever ? Which of us could for a moment have entertained 
the thought of asking for so much ? 

He foresaw the irreverences, the indignities, the profana- 
tions, and the sacrileges with which we should slight and 
outrage Him in the Eucharist. Nevertheless, He decided 
to bind Himself to remain with us always, even to the end 
of the world; exposed to insults and contempt, paying no 
regard to His own dignity nor to His divine person. 
Especially if I look only at myself. Our Saviour foresaw 
that I too would be one of those — His disloyal children — 
who would outrage Him by want of faith, reverence, and 

( l ) St. Luke xxii, 19. 



ZEAL OF CHRIST FOR CONVERSION OF JUDAS 61 

love; by disrespectful behavior in His sacred temples; by 
assisting at Mass without devotion; by receiving Him in 
Holy Communion with a heart attached to vanity. Not- 
withstanding all this, He makes it His delight to dwell with 
me in the Most Blessed Sacrament. infinite goodness 
and condescension ! See, my soul, how great thy obligation 
is to correspond with such love! 

I acknowledge, good Jesus ! my immense debt of grati- 
tude to Thee, and also how devoid I am of thankfulness. 
My shame would urge me to hide beneath the earth; but 
with the confidence which Thou dost inspire I present 
myself before Thee. As Thou, in the Eucharist, sittest, as 
it were, on a throne of mercy and of grace, I crave of Thee 
mercy for the past and grace to be grateful to Thee for the 
time to come. Thou art wholly mine, and I ought to be 
entirely Thine. Thou art my All, and this should be my 
one and only pleasure to please and to enjoy Thee, and in 
Thee to place my happiness and delight. 

With strong faith, I shall frequently visit Jesus Christ, 
who is in the Most Blessed Sacrament — not in figure, nor 
by representation, but in reality in His glorious person; 
and I will cultivate great devotion to the holy Mass. 



CHAPTEE XI. 

ZEAL OF JESUS CHRIST FOR THE CONVERSION" OF JUDAS. 

I. Jesus Christ is aware of the treachery that Judas is 
planning, and being exceedingly grieved at the lamentable 
state of this Apostle, who is led away by diabolical malice, 
He determines to leave nothing untried that a loving 
Saviour can do to convert him. Therefore, after doing him 
the honor of keeping his place among the other Apostles at 
this solemn Supper, although he was most unworthy of it, 
He prepares also to wash his feet. It is not improbable that 
this mystical washing began with J udas, as perhaps he may 
have had the effrontery to put himself in the first place 



62 ZEAL OF CHRIST FOR CONVERSION OF JUDAS 

before Peter ; or, moreover, by the merciful dispensation of 
the heavenly Physician, mainly intent on the cure of him 
who needed it most. In this action who will not admire 
the greatness of God's clemency, moved to pity for a soul 
that was running headlong to iniquity ? 

Let us contemplate the Incarnate Son of the Most High 
God, upon His knees, on the ground, taking into His 
sacred hands and washing the unclean feet of Judas. See 
how He caresses, embraces, and kisses them, pressing them 
to His Heart with indescribable tenderness! The Evan- 
gelist St. John, in the first place, remarks the horrible 
sacrilege of the treason which the devil had put into the 
heart of Judas. Then, with dread and amazement he re- 
lates to what a depth of humiliation the King of glory de- 
scended when He performed, for the very man who was 
betraying Him, the lowest office of a servant, to give him an 
unmistakable token of His unconquerable love. 

Whilst Jesus is washing this Apostle's feet, though he is 
no longer an Apostle except in name, what does He not do 
to wash also his soul, which was far more unclean ? No one 
knows what He speaks to his soul by secret inspiration ; but 
we may easily believe that, with most ardent charity, He 
exhorts and implores him to withdraw from the desperate 
wickedness to which he is enslaved. The wretch remains 
unmoved by this humility which astonishes the angels; 
and takes not the least advantage of the loving counsels of 
a God humbled to the attitude of a suppliant. 

At which, my sweet J esus ! should I marvel the more ? 
The humility and charity with which Thou dost give so 
loving an indication of Thy character of Saviour, or the 
obstinacy and desperate hardness of heart of the traitor? 
How often has my own heart been hard, like that of Judas, 
when I have resisted Thy sweet and powerful attractions? 
my God! I repent of the rebellions and perverseness of 
my will. Give me another heart, I beseech Thee, — a pliant 
heart, that may yield with docility to Thy inspirations. 
What shall I listen to if not to the voice of a God who 
loves me, who calls and urges me, in order that He may 



ZEAL OF CHRIST FOR CONVERSION OF JUDAS 63 

give me His grace in this world, and afterward His eternal 
glory in the other? 

I offer to God my heart, that is, my will, — no longer a 
disobedient, contumacious will, but a will disposed to obey 
the word and to follow the example of J esus Christ. 

II. The Son of God, beholding the obstinate hardness 
of Judas's heart, which is in no degree softened or touched 
by the washing of his feet, finishes what He had began, and 
having again seated Himself at the table, in a prophetic 
strain breaks forth into lamentations that one of those who 
sit at meat with Him, unthankfully rejecting His grace, is 
about to betray Him, and with those very feet which He 
has washed, caressed, and kissed. 

In alluding to this He heaves a deep sigh, thus giving 
vent to the sorrow of His Heart, and all at once He is 
troubled in spirit, looking on the miserable traitor with an 
eye of pity and evidencing, by His mournful expression, 
the affliction of His most compassionate Heart. The Son 
of God is troubled, not through infirmity of mind, as 
though afflicted for Himself, because He is to be betrayed ; 
He is troubled because He elects to be troubled, and by His 
trouble He demonstrates the grievous pain that it gives 
Him to see His Apostle fallen from His exalted dignity 
and given over as a prey to the devil, who is hurrying him 
on to perdition. 

Moreover, the Son of God, with great vehemence of zeal, 
protests that He has endeavored with unparalleled humility 
to bring this miserable man to repentance; that, as far as 
in Him lay, He has lovingly desired to save him and that 
He has no part in his perdition. But not even for all this 
does Judas repent, or show any feeling, or enter into him- 
self. Oh, what mercy in the Saviour! and oh, what per- 
verseness in the sinner ! 

But what profit do I gain by being thus lost in astonish- 
ment at Judas for not corresponding with the sweet attrac- 
tions of the goodness of God? Eather let me enter into 
myself and reflect that Jesus Christ has no less love for me 
than He had for Judas. He protests also concerning me 



64 ZEAL OF CHRIST FOR CONVERSION OF JUDAS 

that my soul is dear to Him; that He has an ardent desire 
to save me; and that if I am lost, it will be through my 
own fault. This same protestation He will make on the 
Day of Judgment, causing it to appear plainly before the 
eyes of all the world that He has done His part toward my 
eternal salvation. 

And what shall I do, what shall I say, my God! on 
that day in self-defence ; when I shall see, on the one hand, 
those numberless graces, exterior and interior, which I 
have had ; and, on the other, how ungrateful for them all I 
have been ? Who knows if, on that day, the whole universe 
will not behold that I have been worse than Judas? Thy 
mercy pursues me in every place. I actually fly from it; 
and if sometimes I am so pressed that I can not evade it, 
then even I resist it. Certain thoughts arise of practising 
some act of virtue, or of getting rid of some vicious inclina- 
tion. I disregard them, I despise them, because I persuade 
myself that they are mere imaginations of my own. I 
deceive myself. Give me, then, my Jesus, I beseech Thee, 
a right spirit to understand that everything within me that 
animates me to good or deters me from evil is an inspira- 
tion from Thee; and give me also a will full of love and 
promptitude to obey it. 

I shall value greatly the inspirations of God, even when 
the matter to which they relate seems trifling; because re- 
sisting these inspirations may occasion the withdrawal of 
many graces and eventually bring about my eternal ruin. 

III. Overflowing with love for the soul of Judas, Jesus 
Christ advances one step more to gain it. He declares in 
a striking manner, in presence of His Apostles, that He 
knows who the traitor is, and that He is one of the twelve. 
In saying this He gives an evident proof that He is God, 
inasmuch as He foresees the betrayal of Himself which is 
about to take place, and beholds in the traitor's heart his 
most hidden thoughts. Ought not this to have brought 
Judas to another mind, as he now must clearly see that it 
was a God with whom he had to deal, a God to whom all the 
wickedness of his heart was already known? Was it not 



ZEAL OF CHRIST FOR CONVERSION OF JUDAS 65 



enough to bring him to reflection, to contemplate, as he does 
at present, the goodness of God, who knew the traitor and 
endured him ; who, instead of reproaching him and putting 
him to shame, counseled him with so much tenderness, con- 
strained him by such sweet violence to repentance? And 
yet, while a God is speaking thus to Judas, Judas thinks 
not of God, but remains fixed in his wicked purpose to 
betray Him. 

On hearing these words of Our Saviour, One of you is 
about to betray Me, 1 the other Apostles are pierced to the 
heart with grief ; with amazement they look at one another ; 
pale and trembling, each begins to examine himself, look- 
ing on himself as capable, through human frailty, of all 
manner of iniquity. At the same time that the innocent 
fear and tremble with gloomy apprehensions, Judas, who 
is the guilty one, neither fears nor doubts of anything, but 
obstinately persists in his criminal purpose. 

I must take instruction for myself. The saints in Para- 
dise, when they were in this life, feared lest they should be 
lost, and thus it was that they came to be saved. This fear 
made them cautious in avoiding dangers, and careful in 
working out their salvation. The damned in hell lived as if 
they were secure of being saved, and precisely for this 
reason they have been lost. Their presumptuous security 
made them live in a thoughtless manner ; and this thought- 
lessness brought them to perdition. Fear belongs to the 
elect; presumption appertains to the reprobate. To which 
class do I belong? 

If I look at the sins that I have committed, and which 
at all hours I am in danger of committing, I have just 
cause to entertain the liveliest fear concerning my eternal 
salvation; yet I do not fear, because I do not make use of 
the caution and diligence that I ought in the conduct of my 
life. Give me, my J esus ! that fear which is the begin- 
ning of wisdom and which is Thy gift. Great is my appre- 
ciation of Thy loving kindness ; and likewise is the knowl- 
edge that I have of my own unworthiness ; for I am capable 

(0 St. Matt xxvi, 21. 



66 ZEAL OF CHRIST FOR CONVERSION OF JUDAS 



of betraying Thee more basely than Judas, and I shall 
betray Thee, if Thou dost not restrain me by Thy holy fear. 
Grant, then, that while I contemplate Thee as the Father 
of mercies and the God of consolations, I may not forget 
that Thou art also the God of vengeance, the just Judge, 
terrible in His counsels ; so that my hope may not make me 
vain and that fear may keep me grounded in humility. 

I shall not trust in myself, and I shall take care to fly 
occasions of sin. This is the fear I must have in order to 
be saved; and I shall make sure of my salvation in pro- 
portion to the diligence with which I remain thus humble 
and in fear. 

IV. The charity of Jesus toward Judas is not yet satis- 
fied. After saying, in a general way, that the traitor is one 
of the twelve, He points out the particular person by add- 
ing, that he to whom He shall give bread dipped in the 
dish shall betray Him, and then immediately gives it to 
Judas. This is by way of admonishing him, without men- 
tioning his name. Judas, who ought to have applied to 
himself both the words and the action, applies them not 
and profits by nothing, abusing the patience of Our Saviour 
and becoming more hardened. 

Jesus Christ passes from kindness to severity. He 
threatens that the most terrible woes shall fall on him who 
betrays Him. This He does in order that J udas may enter 
into himself and acknowledge his guilt. All is in vain: 
yielding to the poisonous effects and fascination of malice, 
he obstinately refuses to be overcome either by kindness or 
rigor. Like an untamed beast, nothing is capable of sub- 
duing or restraining him. 

Let us consider the admirable mercy of God. But at the 
same time how just is His severity when, as so frequently 
happens, men reach such a degree of wickedness that warn- 
ings and corrections are no longer of any avail. But let us 
observe how Judas was brought to the final excess of evil. 
Behold the cunning of this wily hypocrite. He feigns to be 
a friend of Jesus Christ, when in reality he is His enemy. 
He puts his hand with Him into the dish. He eats with a 



ZEAL OF CHRIST FOR CONVERSION OF JUDAS 67 

cheerful countenance, to appear as an innocent man whose 
conscience reproaches him with nothing. Such is the ef- 
frontery with which he seeks to hide and cover his wicked- 
ness, as he prefers to be a traitor rather than to look like 
one. When a soul has arrived at this stage there is no cure. 
There is no instance on record of a hypocrite's being con- 
verted. He is veritably that wicked man spoken of in 
Scripture who contemneth all proper and salutary means 
for his conversion. 

God of Majesty ! to Thee do I breathe out my prayers 
and sighs from the bottom of my heart. Never, oh, never !: 
allow me to be brought to the condition of obstinate hard- 
ness of heart. If in Thy justice Thou wilt chastise me,, 
send me any other punishment than this. Make me blind r 
deaf and dumb, crippled in every limb. I shall adore and 
give thanks to Thy mercy beneath all these afflictions, but 
suffer me not to become incorrigible and rebellious against 
Thy saving admonitions. Look down upon me, then, and 
free me from hypocrisy, which I perceive has dominion 
over me, since I am often more solicitous to conceal than to 
amend my wickedness ; to appear virtuous than to be so in 
reality. This vice is the child of pride and can not be 
cured except by holy humility, which I implore and hope to 
obtain from Thy infinite goodness. 

1 shall cherish the greatest possible aversion and abhor- 
rence to the vice of hypocrisy, and I shall diligently watch 
over my conduct and see where my intentions are directed, 
so that this passion may not secretly infect them. 

V. Judas had been a poor man in an obscure village. 
Therefore, with extraordinary condescension, Our Lord 
took notice of him and chose him as one of His disciples. 
Besides, He had honored him with the title of Apostle, and 
again among the Apostles had selected him as the procu- 
rator of His holy family. Moreover, Jesus Christ had con- 
ferred on Judas power over the devils, the gift of miracles, 
with innumerable other graces corresponding to the exalted 
station he occupied. When after all these favors he had 
been blinded by his own fault, and had gone headlong 



68 ZEAL OF CHRIST FOR CONVERSION OF JUDAS 



into impiety, what did not the Saviour of the world, in His 
immense charity, say and do to raise him up again ! 

Among other means that He made rise of was one to 
awaken in the mind of Judas the remembrance of the 
multitude of favors which the divine Goodness had heaped 
upon him. Indeed, how could he have ever brought himself 
to the perpetration of the sacrilegious enormity in which he 
was engaged if he had called to mind the untold obligations 
under which he lay to Jesus Christ, who had lavished upon 
him such marks of especial predilection? But not even 
this had any effect, because the ungrateful traitor paid re- 
gard to nothing. IST-ay, on the contrary, the experience that 
he had had of the almighty power, of the humility and 
kindness of Jesus, made him far more savage than any 
wild beast. 

Well might Jesus Christ have called upon heaven and 
earth to witness His most tender charity, and have cried 
out: What more should I have done for the conversion of 
Judas, my unfaithful Apostle? I have tried the effect of 
love, of honors, of lowly services, of warnings, threats, en- 
treaties, but he despised all. What more was there to say 
or to do; what have I omitted? But a time will come when 
Jesus shall say the same of me. Eeflect, my soul, on 
what thy loving Saviour has done and is still doing for 
thy eternal salvation. In what respect has the divine 
Mercy been wanting to thee ? Oh, where is it now wanting, 
if thou dost consider the overflowing torrent of graces, 
spiritual and temporal, general and particular, that thou 
hast received? 

my God, how good art Thou ! and oh, how wicked am 
I ! Will it always be the case, that I am to be forever more 
ungrateful to Thee in proportion as I see Thee more un- 
ceasingly prodigal of Thy favors to me? "What moment 
of my life is there in which Thou art not doing me good, 
and laying upon me new obligations to love Thee? I am 
humbled and confounded; I grieve and repent of my in- 
gratitude; and as I know that this, beyond everything, 
stands in the way and stops the current of those graces 



PERFIDY OP JUDAS IN BETRAYING CBRlSf 69 



which Thy goodness is disposed to impart to me, I recom- 
mend myself to Thy mercy and clemency. Eegard not, I 
beseech Thee, what I have been. Call me now, and I shall 
be prepared to answer. Command, and I shall obey. I 
will be grateful to Thee, I will love Thee, encouraged and 
assisted by Thy grace. 

I shall call to mind the multitude of favors that God has 
granted, and still grants me, that at least I may no longer 
offend Him. The one favor of having preserved me from 
falling into hell, which I have so often deserved, is suffi- 
cient to cause me to return thanks without ceasing. 



CHAPTEE XII. 

PERFIDY OF JUDAS IN BETRAYING JESUS CHRIST. 

I. After Jesus Christ had instituted the Most Blessed 
Sacrament, He gives It to the Apostles, and also to Judas, 
who is not excluded from this Last Supper. To him, also, 
our most loving Saviour imparts, under both forms, His 
most sacred Body and His most precious Blood that nothing 
may be left untried for his conversion, and that he too may 
have the benefit of that means which might have been the 
most efficacious of all to cause him to repent of his ingrati- 
tude and perfidy. But no sooner has he received It, than 
the devil enters into him. At the moment that he con- 
sented to the temptation he delivered himself up a prey to 
Satan, but the devil had not as yet taken entire possession 
of him. He took full possession of him only after this 
sacrilegious Communion. 

The Blessed Sacrament is one and the same for all. But 
while It is a food of life to the other Apostles, It is to 
Judas a food of death. In Itself the Blessed Sacrament is 
most excellent, a most powerful means of salvation to souls. 
However, It becomes the occasion of condemnation to 
Judas, who receives It unworthily. He is immediately 
filled with cruelty and fury and he puts a seal upon his hard 



70 PERFIDY OF JUDAS IN BETRAYING CHRIST 



heart, made obstinate in malice, by an act of sacrilege. Oh, 
how fearful a thing is an unworthy Communion, by which 
the Eucharist, the life-giving food, is changed into deadly 
poison through the fault of him who receives It in sin ! 
Judas received Communion but once. This once was done 
unworthily, and it was the means of bringing him to the 
extremity of ruin. 

Let us reflect that when Judas received Communion he 
had not as yet carried into effect the betrayal of his divine 
Master. He had only thought of it; with his will he had 
consented to betray Him, and by this sin, committed not 
in deed but only in thought, his Communion became a 
sacrilege. Hence, we may learn that sins of thought are 
sometimes more hurtful to the soul than sins committed 
outwardly, because so little account is made of them. May 
God preserve me from ever receiving Communion with my 
conscience defiled with even one sin. 

my God ! if Thou seest that I shall ever receive Com- 
munion with the guilt of mortal sin upon my conscience, 
most earnestly do I implore Thee to take me out of this 
world rather than suffer me to be capable of so terrible im- 
piety. I have great fear about my past Communions. My 
life has been very, very tepid, and I can not be sure of 
having always had the sorrow and the purpose of amend- 
ment requisite for a good Confession. But now I am 
grieved for all my wickedness as it appears in Thy eyes. 
Permit not that the Most Blessed Sacrament, which was 
instituted for my salvation, should become for me an occa- 
sion of perdition. In order that It may be the means of my 
salvation, cause me to receive It with purity and devotion. 

Judas's first Communion was also his last. Woe to me 
if I ever make even one sacrilegious Communion, since 
that one may be my last and I may eat my own damnation 
by It ! I shall preserve this fear at all times in my heart. 

II. J udas had scarcely received the most holy Eucharist 
when he immediately leaves the supper room. The other 
Apostles, after the example of Jesus Christ, who has re- 
turned thanks to the Eternal Father for so signal a grace 



PERFIDY OF JUDAS IN BETRAYING CHRIST 71 

conferred upon the Church, remain in devout recollection, 
and by fervent acts of humility and charity give thanks to 
the Lord, who has communicated Himself to them in the 
Sacrament. The reprobate Apostle acts differently; he 
entertains other thoughts in his mind. In receiving the 
Body and Blood of the Man-God he had no sentiment of 
compunction; and afterward, likewise, he had not the 
slightest feeling of devotion within him. Therefore, he 
immediately withdraws, without reverence and respect for 
the divine Master whom he has in his breast. 

If Judas had not departed ; if, reflecting as he ought to 
have done on the grandeur of this mystery, he had waited in 
the company of his most loving Saviour, whom he had 
within his own breast, perchance he would have turned 
away from his wickedness, have repented and not com- 
mitted his projected crime, on account of the special lights 
and helps that he would have received at that most blessed 
moment. Oh, unhappy Judas, to refuse this mark of 
courtesy and attention to that God who came to bestow 
upon thee the treasures of His grace ! 

Assuredly they are imitators of Judas who, after re- 
ceiving Holy Communion, go away in haste without mak- 
ing a suitable thanksgiving. Wretched that we are ! we are 
strictly obliged to give thanks to the Lord unceasingly for 
His benefits, which we receive at every moment. We are 
bound to thank Him after our meals, when we have taken 
food for our bodies ; but how much more are we obliged to 
return to Him our most heartfelt thanks after Communion, 
for the ineffable gift with which He has favored us, as we 
are instructed by the example of Our Lord Himself ! Not 
drowsy, but dead indeed must be that soul which, after 
having received Communion, is cold and without feeling. 

What then must I say of myself who, after Communion, 
have my mind and heart so often filled in a moment with 
distractions, am vain and dissipated, leaving Jesus Christ 
alone, as if His divine presence were a burden to me ! Ah, 
my soul, when should we be attentive and excite our live- 
liest affections, if not when we have our most loving God 



72 PERFIDY OF JUDAS IN BETRAYING CHRIST 

with us ? And yet, in what haste am I to leave Him ! How 
soon am I wearied in entertaining Him ! Ah, my God ! I 
am grieved at my irreverence, negligence, tepidity, and 
coldness. I now thank Thee for the many times that I 
neglected to return thanks to Thee, and I implore Thee to 
grant me this favor — that I may always remember to thank 
Thee for Thy mercies which Thou dost bestow upon me in 
so great abundance in Thy Most Holy Sacrament. 

After Communion I shall remember Judas, driven to 
extreme guilt because he was then without devotion. I 
will consider as coming from the devil all impatience to 
leave Thee at that time and go away. I shall think of 
nothing but of making my thanksgiving properly and with 
affection. 

III. Jesus Christ beholds Judas rising from the table 
in haste and going away. He is perfectly aware of his in- 
tention, but He says nothing more to him, either to divert 
him from his treachery or to prevent its perpetration. He 
only tells him to go and do what he purposes to do, and to 
do it quickly. This is not a command, but a prediction, or 
a permission, by which Jesus Christ declares His neutral- 
ity ; neither restraining the traitor, nor urging him on, nor 
desiring by any means his perdition, though invariably 
maintaining His desire for the Eedemption of the world. 
By these words He gives us to understand that He fears 
nothing, and that He is prepared to fulfil with intrepid 
resolution, in everything, the will of His Father. 

These words contain also a reproach to Judas. Jesus 
Christ implies, that after having said and done so much 
to convert him, He now leaves him a prey to the perverse- 
ness of his will. Since thou wilt have it thus, I leave thee 
to thyself: go even and do all that thou seest fit to do. I 
shall no longer have that tender care of thee which I have 
thus far had. Behold the unhappy state to which a man 
sometimes may come in a moment. The Almighty God, 
after having with exceeding long-suffering and patience 
borne with and waited for some persons up to a certain 
point, at length abandons them in the darkness which they 



PERFIDY OF JUDAS IN BETRAYING CHRIST 73 



have chosen for themselves, and permits them to indulge 
their blind, mad passions as they please, so that they rush 
headlong from bad to worse without restraint. If such a 
one will sin, let him sin. If he will go to ruin, let him go. 
If he will be damned, let him be damned. In proportion 
as this wretched state is caused by sin, it is the work of 
man ; in so far as it is regarded as a punishment, it is God's 
doing. 

my God! Thou art terrible in Thy judgments, — 
secretly just and justly secret! Never allow me to arrive 
at such a state as this; therefore, now and forever, accept 
my entire will, my liberty, my power of election. Allow 
me not to live after my own fashion ; for, undoubtedly, if I 
follow my concupiscences I shall run on in the dark worse 
than Judas did. Left to myself, I am like an unbroken 
wild beast which, without reflection, obeys" its brutal ap- 
petites. If Thou lettest go the bridle on my neck, I shall 
obey all my wicked inclinations and run on in the way of 
destruction. Oh ! curb me, I beseech Thee, by Thy law, by 
Thy faith. Bridle me in with the fear of Thy infinite 
justice and I shall live under eternal obligations to Thy 
infinite mercy. 

The first sins of Judas were sins of thought. Therefore, 
I shall acquire the habit of resisting sins of thought, that 
thus I may have a greater abhorrence for sins of action. 
No one attains the summit of wickedness all at once, but by 
little and little. 

IV. Judas, having left the Apostles, goes in search of 
the enemies of Jesus Christ — that is, of the rulers of the 
synagogue, — to concert with them and to put into execu- 
tion the treachery decided upon. But before entering fully 
on the history of the deed, we should observe that in the 
narrative of the Evangelists it is repeatedly said that J udas 
was one of the twelve, 1 to accentuate this circumstance more 
clearly as an aggravation of his guilt. He might have been 
called one of the disciples, of whom there were seventy-two, 
who were followers of the Saviour, but not His confidants, 

(0 St, Matt, xxvi, 14, 



74 PERFIDY OF JUDAS IN BETRAYING CHRIST 



But he is called one of the twelve, 1 and with good reason, 
that it may be understood that he was one of the first 
chosen, as best among the better, who were distinguished 
and elevated to the most exalted dignity in the Church. 

Judas was an Apostle. There is no doubt that by virtue 
of the Apostleship he must have had grace bestowed upon 
him to be a perfect Apostle, — that is, to save himself and 
others as well. Yet from being an Apostle he became an 
apostate. He was a prince in religion, and yet he was 
changed into a son of perdition. He was placed in the 
highest sphere among the saints; from which he fell into 
the lowest depths of wickedness, and became a devil. 

Where can we find security against falling when Lucifer, 
created an angel, fell in heaven ; when Adam, created inno- 
cent, fell in the earthly Paradise ; and when Judas, chosen 
to the Apostleship, fell while numbered among the most 
familiar friends of Jesus Christ, God and Man ? Assured- 
ly, Thy judgments are great and unsearchable and pro- 
found, my God, the just Judge ! who weighest with a true 
balance mightily. 

However, I must not dwell on these considerations so as 
to become disheartened and lose courage, but only with 
the intention of keeping myself humble and in fear, that I 
may never presume on my own strength, but may use all 
diligence and care to escape from the dangers that surround 
me. Considering that a man who enjoyed the society and 
confidence of the Son of God made Man, who heard His 
doctrine, witnessed His marvelous works, threw himself 
into so deep a gulf of wickedness ; — how much more easily 
may I, who am weak and wretched beyond measure and who 
have not those privileges of grace, plunge suddenly into 
every manner of iniquity? 

When I reflect that I can be sure of myself in no point ; 
when I consider that although today I am a saint I might, 
tomorrow, be a reprobate worse than Judas, there being no 
sin too great which I may not be capable of committing ; 
when, again, I think and remember seriously that I can not 

0) St. Matt, xxvi, 14. 



PERFIDY OF JUDAS IN BETRAYING CHRIST 75 

tell what is to become of me, either in time or in eternity ; 
my God ! how can pride have dominion over me, how can 
it ever gain the least foothold in my heart — and yet it 
posssesses me altogether. Let this truth, I implore Thee, 
be impressed on me, that I deceive myself whenever I 
imagine I am good for anything. 

I shall also humble myself in comparison with my neigh- 
bor, and never look upon myself in any way preferable to 
others. Who knows whether that person whom I place 
in imagination below myself may not be saved ? And who 
can tell whether I, who esteem myself above him, shall not 
be damned? 

V. Judas enters the council of the rulers of the people 
and makes known to them his plot, at the very moment that 
they are discussing the question how they may apprehend 
Jesus Christ and put Him to death. We must especially 
remark that no one has solicited him, no one has entreated 
him or even proposed to him to act the part of traitor. 
No ; he comes of his own free will to offer himself. Oh, the 
outrageous malignity of the impious wretch ! No doubt he 
pretended to regard the miracles of Our Saviour as the 
effect of magic, and not to believe that He was God; and 
that he called Him Master as it were in sport, and ridiculed 
the Blessed Sacrament ; and it is probable that, to cover the 
foulness of his treachery, he introduced himself by saying 
all manner of evil against Jesus Christ in order to make 
it appear a meritorious act to betray Him. 

Oh, how all these vile rulers congratulate themselves on 
hearing the evil-tongued slanderer ! They are delighted 
to think that Jesus Christ is now found out to be a bad 
man even by His own disciples, and has incurred their 
hatred. They conclude, from the enormities with which 
they hear Him charged by one of His Apostles, that He is 
really deserving of death. All of Judas's lies are believed, 
and all that he says from pure treachery and malice they 
accept as spoken through zeal for justice and from a sin- 
cere desire to satisfy his conscience. Who can comprehend 
the extreme dishonor inflicted on Jesus Christ by this 



76 PERFIDY OF JUDAS IN BETRAYING CHRIST 



sacrilegious tongue ! Who can conceive the acute pain, the 
bitter anguish that it caused Him, to be thus charged by 
one of His Apostles with imposture ! 

I represent to myself, my sweet Kedeemer, that it was 
on this occasion that Thou didst say with the Prophet : If 
it were an enemy who speaks evil of me, I might have the 
heart to bear the injury. But that it should be one of 
those most dear to me, one of my intimate friends, one who 
has received untold favors from me; who, for three years, 
has been in my company, eating with me at my table! This 
is an outrage beyond the possibility of endurance. Yet 
Thou dost bear it, good Jesus, with the utmost tranquillity 
and peace, and although Thou hast just cause for resent- 
ment, Thou, in Thy innocence, art not in the least per- 
turbed nor afflicted by the calumnies of Judas. 

This is a most striking example of humility and patience 
for me; but it will be of no advantage, since if any one 
utters two words against me, I, in my pride and impatience, 
must answer four to him. Often, it is true, I meet with 
humiliations; but for all that, I am not humble, because, 
while enduring a humiliation, I fret and am angry instead 
of humbling myself. Good God, I feel my pride con- 
tinually gaining power over me; and I lose all confidence 
in myself to conquer it, because I see that when trials come 
I never succeed in vanquishing it. In Thee, therefore, I 
place my trust, and hope with Thy help to subdue it. 

My resolution must be to bear with what is said against 
me by evil tongues, after the example of Jesus Christ; and 
to guard even against imitating Judas by speaking ill of 
others. This I must not do of any one, but especially of my 
superiors. 

VI. Judas perceives that his proposals for the appre- 
hension of Jesus Christ are eagerly accepted by the chief 
priests; and as his principal motive in betraying Him is 
avarice, he begins to bargain for the life of his divine 
Master. What will you give me, he says, and I will deliver 
Him unto you? 1 Thus speaks the traitor, leaving the affair 

(0 St. Matt. xxvi, 15. 



PERFIDY OF JUDAS IN BETRAYING CHRIST 7? 



to their discretion, as if he were deliberating about the sale 
of some good-for-nothing, useless article. What a dis- 
honor is this to the Son of the Eternal Father, to the 
Saviour and Lord of the world, that He should be offered 
at a price that may appear suitable to His enemies, who are 
filled with savage hatred against Him. 

The priests promise Judas that, when the work is done, 
they will give him thirty pieces of silver. However, of the 
smallest silver coin and of the basest metal. This was the 
lowest price for a slave, — the price already foretold by the 
Prophet as that for which the Messiah would be sold. 
Without demur, Judas agrees to it as though he had made 
an advantageous bargain ; showing that if they had offered 
less he would have been satisfied with less. He closes with 
the offer, and immediately commences to think of the best 
way of executing his work. He valued the ointment with 
which Magdalene anointed J esus Christ at more than three 
hundred pence. Now he values Christ Himself at less than 
thirty. 

blind, foolish bargain ! If he had gone to Magda- 
lene or to the Blessed Virgin and put to them the question, 
What will you give me, and I will sell you Jesus Christ? 
knowing His inestimable value, what a price would they 
have set upon Him ! And now, turning to ourselves : — 
what is the price that we practically set on Jesus Christ? 
We think with horror of Judas because he betrayed Him 
for so little; and we think it a small thing to renew the 
betrayal of Our Lord as often as we commit sin. How 
true this is, my soul ! As many times as thou hast sinned 
mortally, so often hast thou betrayed the Son of God made 
Man for thee and set a less price on Him than Judas did, 
valuing and loving some miserable gratification more than 
thy Master. unhappy, senseless, dishonest bargain ! 

God ! Thou didst behold all the treachery by which I 
have dishonored Thy infinite Majesty when I reckoned this 
Thy Majesty of less consequence than the indulgence of 
some fit of pride or anger, or some sensual delight. Why 
didst Thou not crush so base, so perfidious a traitor? J 



78 DISCOURSE OF CHRIST AFTER LAST SUPPER 

throw myself at Thy feet, to adore and thank Thy mercy ; 
and for shame I dare not lift up my eyes. Now that I 
can do nothing more to indemnify myself for the evil done, 
I at least offer Thee my repentance and the resolution that 
I make of loving and esteeming Thee above all things. En- 
lighten my darkness, support my weakness, put a stop to 
my wickedness. I realize the mystery of that love by which 
Thou wert pleased to be valued at so cheap a rate while 
accomplishing our Eedemption; it was that no one might 
have the excuse to say he could not purchase Thee. Ah ! 
dear Jesus, if my love is a fair price at which to buy Thee, 
behold it. I love Thee too little ; make me love Thee more. 

I shall examine whether I really love God with a love of 
preference, making more account of His grace than of any- 
thing else in the world. Have I any attachment preju- 
dicial to the love of God? 



CHAPTER XIII. 

DISCOURSE OF JESUS CHRIST AFTER THE LAST SUPPER. 

I. The legal supper of the lamb and the Sacramental 
Supper of the Eucharist being concluded, Jesus Christ 
continues some time longer in conversation with His eleven 
Apostles at the table. Calling them by the loving name of 
children, He takes leave of them as a most affectionate 
father would who was about to depart to a distant land. In 
order to touch their hearts and produce on them a deeper 
impression of His last instructions, He gives them assur- 
ances of His love in language full of joy and consolation. 
He then exhorts them to constancy in the love of God, and 
the more strongly to draw them to it, He says: As the 
Father hath loved Me, I also have loved you. Abide in My 
love. 1 

Jesus Christ here intends to address Himself not only to 
the Apostles but also to us : and we must reflect well on 
this truly marvelous condescension of the divine Goodness. 

(0 St. John xv, 9. 



DISCOURSE OF CHRIST AFTER LAST SUPPER 79 



And who am I, Lord, that Thou shouldst so especially and 
so powerfully call on me to love Thee? It would be an 
immense privilege if Thou only gavest me permission to 
love Thee, but that Thou shouldst encourage me, urge me, 
a poor insignificant creature, to love Thee, with such tender 
expressions of earnestness ! What dost thou say, my soul ? 
Thinkest thou, perchance, that when He commands thee 
to love Him it is because He has need of thee, or because it 
would be a loss to Him if thou didst not love Him ? 

You need not seek far for an answer to the question, 
Why does the Saviour command and encourage you to love 
Him ? For no other reason than that He sees it is to your 
own advantage, and that on this love depends entirely your 
happiness in time and in eternity. He does not command 
us to love ourselves, because the love of God alone includes 
everything good that we can and ought to 'desire for our- 
selves. Oh, happy, blessed being that I am, if I love J esus 
Christ! But oh, desperately miserable wretch, if at the 
moment of my death it appears that I have not loved Him ! 
Oh ! why am I not astounded to think that the Sovereign 
Good, supremely amiable in Himself, can, neither by bene- 
fits, nor entreaties, nor commands, nor promises, nor 
threats, prevail upon me to love Him? 

Good God, how strange is my heart ! Oh ! let my folly 
and obduracy move Thee not to wrath, but to pity. I 
repent of having spent so many years of my life in the 
love of vanity, and not in the love of Thy divine Majesty. 
Ah ! may I now at length begin to love Thee, and in such 
a manner that no other love but Thine may any longer have 
dominion over me. J esus ! Thou didst come into the 
world to kindle Thy divine love in. souls. Kindle it in my 
soul; banish far from it all inordinate love, so that I may 
love Thee, not for love of myself, but purely for Thy own 
sake, who art most worthy and deserving of love. 

I shall make acts of love to Jesus Christ. Moreover, I 
resolve to be faithful in the practice of them, imploring the 
intercession of His most holy Mother, who is the Mother 
of fair love. 



80 DISCOURSE OF CHRIST AFTER LAST SUPPER 

II. In order that no person may deceive himself on the 
subject of the love of God, which is indispensable for 
salvation, Jesus Christ gives us the proofs by which this 
love is manifested. These proofs, He says, are not in fine 
words, or fine thoughts, or tender feelings ; but by the full, 
entire, and constant observance of His Commandments. 
If you keep My commandments, He says, you shall abide in 
My love. 1 It resides not in the memory, but in the heart, 
and produces integrity of life. He says not that the man 
loves Him who obeys Him in some things or at some times ; 
but He speaks in general terms, and says that he loves Him 
who obeys Him, and that he who obeys Him not does not 
love Him. He presents Himself as an example, bringing 
forward His own perfect obedience as a proof of the love 
which He has for His Eternal Father. 

Consequently, when I say that I love God I mean, if 
I speak the truth, that I am prepared to obey Him in 
everything and to lose all, even my life, rather than forfeit 
for a moment His grace by a mortal sin. To this I am 
obliged. But as in the love of creatures I have so fre- 
quently gratified my passions beyond the bounds due to 
them, without exactly calculating how far I was going, am 
I to stand on punctilios, and do nothing for the love of 
God but what I am bound to do under pain of mortal sin ? 
Even heathens are obliged to do this ; but we have a law that 
requires that we should ever advance more and more 
in the love of God. Therefore, my soul, is it well to say, 
/ will do nothing for the love of God but what I am obliged, 
as though we were actually afraid of going beyond what the 
Commandments require? 

most loving Saviour ! is this the way Thou hast dealt 
with me, — not to do more for me than what Thou wast 
obliged to do ? Who or what, except Thy love, obliged Thee 
to undergo so painful a Passion for me, or by Thy death to 
obtain for me so plentiful a Eedemption? How ungrate- 
ful would be my love if I were to calculate precisely to what 
point I could go in offending Thee without mortal sin, and 

0) St. John xv, 10. 



DISCOURSE OF CHRIST AFTER LAST SUPPER 81 



beyond this not to care whether or not I pleased Thee? 
Ah, my Lord! I know that Thou art a jealous God with 
respect to Thy love ; and hitherto I have given no signs of 
love, except barren sentiments and inconstant desires. 
Grant that now I may indeed begin to love Thee* I do not 
know either in what manner or how much I love Thee. I 
can not even tell whether I love Thee in the degree that is 
necessary for my salvation. But now, do Thou, in the first 
place, give me a horror of sin, more for the love of Thee 
because it is an offence against Thee, than for my own in- 
terest and for fear of punishment. Moreover, grant that 
I may delight in everything that pleases Thee, and that 
everything that displeases Thee may also be disagreeable to 
me; and let me have such a love not only for Thy com- 
mandments, but also for Thy counsels, that I may no 
longer love anything that is not Thyself ,or that conducts 
not to Thee. 

The safest rule for loving Jesus Christ is to strive to 
imitate Him. Therefore, I shall make it my object to 
imitate Him, considering at all times the will and glory of 
God in my actions and intentions. 

III. The surest proof of our love for God is the love we 
have for our neighbor, as in no case can it be said that he 
loves God who does not love his neighbor. Consequently, 
in this His last sermon Jesus Christ repeatedly inculcates 
on us this love of our brethren, with most touching in- 
sistence, that He may be assured of our practising it, as in 
this point all is included. A new commandment, He says, 
/ give unto you: that you love one another, as I have loved 
you. 1 New He calls it on account of the new manner in 
which He teaches us to love our neighbor ; that is, in imita- 
tion of Himself, for the love of God, and for God, to dis- 
tinguish it from ordinary love entertained for motives 
purely natural or worldly. 

Jesus Christ says, moreover, in recommendation of fra- 
ternal charity, that the command that we should love one 
another is His command, — that is, it is properly and pecu- 

(i) St. John xiii, 34. 



82 DISCOURSE OF CHRIST AFTER LAST SUPPER 



liarly His own; the principal, the one that interests Him 
the most, and which He most zealously desires us to observe. 
It is true that the other commandments are also His, but 
He has not spoken of any other, as He has of this, in terms 
so earnest and impressive ; in order that we may understand 
the very great account that we must make of it, not so 
much in our judgment as in our will and practice. 

I shall reflect on myself. Do I love my neighbor in the 
manner that I am commanded to love him, as J esus Christ 
has loved us ? Jesus Christ has loved all men without ex- 
ception, having died for all and each. Now, conscientiously 
to speak the truth, do I love all men, good and bad, friends 
and enemies, grateful and ungrateful ? If one person exists 
in the world whom I do not love, I have not the charity that 
is necessary for my salvation. Jesus Christ has loved us 
without respect to our merits, loving God in us and us for 
the sake of God, and wishing us that one only good — the 
grace and the glory of God. Do I love my neighbor thus, 
through supernatural motives for God's sake ? If I do not 
love him in this way all my love is without merit. 

Thou great Lover and Legislator of love ! good 
Jesus ! in this affair of the love of my neighbor I flatter and 
deceive myself. I persuade myself that I love him, but in 
reality I love him not as I know that I am obliged to love 
him. Oh ! how willing am I, for any trifle, to exclude from 
my love first one person, then another ; and oh ! the love 
that I feel at one time for one, at another time for some 
one else, after all is nothing but the outcome of natural 
inclination and taste, or it is interested and worldly. I may 
acknowledge that up to the present time I have loved no 
one with truly Christian love, because if I have loved any 
one it has been with reference to self and net to God. Ah, 
most gracious God! have pity on me, and supernaturalize 
my heart so that I may love all men and in the manner that 
is pleasing to Thee. 

The proper penance which I ought to perform for not 
having observed the precept of fraternal charity is that I 
should make a firm resolution to love my neighbor for the 



DISCOURSE OF CHRIST AFTER LAST SUPPER 83 



time to come ; loving all men, and doing that for the sole 
motive of the love of God. 

IV. To animate us with greater zeal to the observance 
of His new commandment of fraternal charity, Jesus 
Christ goes on to declare the importance of it, saying : By 
this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you 
have love one for another} He does not say : If you give 
yourselves to prayer, to devotion, to the practice of auster- 
ities, or of so many other virtues; but, the characteristic 
that is to distinguish true from false Christians, the elect 
from the reprobate, He declares to be simply and solely 
fraternal charity, — wishing well one to another. He would 
say, Be you religious, be you spiritual, virgins, or whatever 
else you please, if you have not charity one toward another 
you shall be none of Mine. 

Thus, in fact, will it be at the end of the world, on the 
day of the General Judgment. Fraternal charity will be 
the one only sign by which true Christians will be known, 
by which the elect shall be distinguished from the reprobate. 
The eternal Judge will not say, Come, ye blessed, because 
you have astonished the world by your miracles ; but, Come 
ye blessed, because you have loved one another for the love 
of Me ; Go, ye cursed, because you did not love each other. 
Now, then, if I look into myself, to judge the state of my 
own soul, what practical esteem have I for the virtue of 
brotherly love? Frequently I scruple things that are of 
little or no consequence ; but of charity, which is the essence 
of the Christian life, I make small account. 

merciful J esus ! my wickedness is known to Thee ; but, 
for my own confusion, I accuse myself of it. I have cher- 
ished hatred for many persons ; in my anger I have devised 
schemes of revenge; if I have not had it in my power to 
act otherwise, I have revenged myself by speaking ill of 
them. I have actually despised and trodden under foot 
Thy holy commandment. My pride and inordinate self- 
love have been the cause of this. Even to this day how 
easily do I resent, with anger and ill-will, any slight an- 

(J) St. John xiii, 35. 



84 DISCOURSE OF CHRIST AFTER LAST SUPPER 



noyance I meet with. If any one offends me in some 
especially tender point I no longer feel toward him the 
good-will with which I previously regarded him; and I 
think it of more importance to indulge an angry, proud 
feeling, than to obey that command of Thine which is the 
nearest to Thy Heart, of which Thou art most jealous. 
How then can I expect to be saved? I am undeserving of 
mercy, my God ! still I hope for it from Thee, and I hope 
also for the grace to amend. Give me a new heart and a 
new spirit, as Thou hast promised me. Pour into my heart 
that fulness of charity that overflows Thy breast, that I 
may observe, with perfection, this Thy beloved command 
of fraternal love. 

I shall love my neighbor as I ought to love myself, in a 
Christian way, desiring and praying that every one may 
love God as perfectly as I desire and pray that I myself may 
love Him. This is the true love of charity. 

V. The love of God and the love of our neighbor, to 
which we are bound, surpass the utmost powers of 
nature. Wherefore, in order that nothing may be wanting 
to enable us to fulfil our duty, Jesus Christ proposes a 
most efficacious means to us, which is prayer; assuring us 
that all things that we shall ask of His heavenly Father 
He will give us, particularly whatever regards our eternal 
salvation. What is easier to a poor beggar than to ask 
alms? In like manner, what is easier for me than to ask 
God, as a beggar, for all that I need? I shall never have a 
right to complain of God for not giving me such and such 
graces, which were necessary for me at certain times, and in 
certain places ; the fault is mine, I did not ask for them, 

Besides, Jesus Christ teaches us how this prayer should 
be made, and lays down the rule that our prayers to God 
must always be accompanied with humility and confidence, 
Humility consists in the knowledge of our own misery and 
nothingness, and of our being of ourselves good-for-noth- 
ing. Confidence is a steadfast belief that God is able and 
willing to give us every good, as He has promised, in His 
mercy, to give it to us whenever we ask Him. This is the 



DISCOURSE OF CHRIST AFTER LAST SUPPER 85 



definition of humility and confidence. It is to have of 
myself the meanest and most abject opinion possible, and 
of God the highest and most exalted. Learn, my soul, thus 
to pray to God, and doubt not that thou wilt be heard. 

Oh, consoling doctrine! Is there a prince in the world 
who says to the poor, If you ask me for riches, I will make 
you rich immediately ? Is there a physician who says, or 
who can say to the sick, If you ask me to give you health, 
I will at once make you well ? Is there a teacher who says, 
or who can say to the ignorant, If you ask me for knowledge, 
I will make you learned in a moment? This is how my 
infinitely good and almighty God deals with me in regard 
to my spiritual necessities. If thou wilt ask Me for charity, 
I will make thee charitable, etc. And how can I entertain 
desponding doubts of His granting me the virtues of which 
I stand in need for my eternal salvation? It is true that 
of myself I am poor, weak, and ignorant in the extreme; 
but the sole reason is, that I do not ask, since I know 
that the word of God can not fail and that I shall receive 
everything that I ask in so far as it is good and right. 

Ah, blessed be Thy infinite goodness, my God! I 
throw myself at Thy feet in confusion, as I know not what 
to ask of Thee ; since I am in want of everything, I confess 
to Thee my poverty and leave myself unreservedly in Thy 
hands. If, however, through obedience I must now ask 
Thee for something, this is what I ask, — the grace to pray, 
and to pray as I ought ; because I am aware that I am very 
languid in my prayers, and frequently disposed to neglect 
them. 

I shall no longer neglect prayer, which may be made so 
easily, in every place, and at any time, with the heart. 
When I pray I shall remember to fix the eye of my mind, 
first on my own misery, then on God's merc}^. 

VI. Jesus Christ, beholding the Apostles overwhelmed 
with fear and sadness because He was about to leave this 
world, charitably endeavors to comfort them. He promises 
them that, although He must depart, He will, nevertheless, 
not abandon them, and assures them that all is for the best. 



86 DISCOURSE OF CHRIST AFTER LAST SUPPER 



Then He forewarns them that they will have to suffer 
persecutions, woes, and sorrows. At the same time He 
inspires them with sentiments of generous fortitude, put- 
ting Himself before them as an example how to suffer 
hatred and persecution, and animating them with the hope 
of eternal beatitude. 

I shall reflect on these two motives of encouragement. 
What could be more encouraging and consoling for me, 
also? The servant is not above the Master. If Jesus 
Christ, who is my head, has patiently endured insults, 
mockery, scourges, and even death upon an infamous gib- 
bet, how can I refuse patiently to suffer my trials ; I who, 
as a Christian, glory in calling myself one of His mem- 
bers? However bitter the humiliations, the misfortunes, 
the afflictions of this world may be, take one glance only, 
my soul, at J esus, and oh, how sweet and charming will it 
become for thee to bear them ! What a consolation will it 
be to thee in suffering to remember that thou hast been 
thought worthy to be like Him ! 

Again, if I consider that every trouble here below comes 
quickly to an end, and that as a recompense for bearing it 
for the love of God will be given me the enjoyment of a 
glory in Paradise, that will last throughout the eternal ages 
of the life of God Himself, what pain is there, or what 
penance which I can allow myself to count too severe? 
Consider, my soul, what is that Paradise that is won by 
patience, and in comparison with that incomprehensible 
felicity and bliss, thou shalt soon learn to reckon all suffer- 
ing as of no account. Although our life were to last 
thousands of years in continual mortifications and humilia- 
tions, there would yet be no proportion between the merit 
thus gained and that glory which is immense, eternal, in- 
finite. What, then, must we say when we reflect how short 
is our life, how transitory are all our pains ? Ah ! where is 
the cross, whether interior or exterior, which can appear 
heavy to me with the cheering thought before my eyes that 
Paradise awaits me, and that after suffering for a little 
while everlasting joy will follow ? 



JESUS GOES WITH APOSTLES TO THE GARDEN 87 

my Lord God! how liberal art Thou, to promise me 
the reward of a glorious eternity for renouncing my own 
will and practising patience and humility for the few days 
of this miserable life ! Imprint deeply, I beseech Thee,- on 
my soul this truth of Thy Gospel. Confirm this confidence 
in my heart and help me to live in conformity with what I 
believe and hope, so that, by Thy grace, I may admire Thy 
omnipotence, thank Thy mercy, and enjoy Thy unspeak- 
able glory throughout the endless ages of eternity. 

My hope of eternal salvation having no foundation but 
the merits of Jesus Christ, with the proviso that I should 
imitate Him, I shall keep before my eyes the necessity of 
this imitation, especially when I meditate on His sacred 
Passion. 



CHAPTEE XIV. 

JESUS CHRIST GOES WITH HIS APOSTLES TO THE GARDEN". 

I. The hour being now arrived for the practice of that 
unrivaled obedience with which Jesus Christ is about to 
glorify His Eternal Father, He rises from table, and in a 
manner of entreaty says to the Apostles, Arise, let us go 
hence. 1 However, He continues His discourse, and having 
lifted up His eyes to Heaven and made a sublime prayer, 
He goes forth from the supper room and takes the road 
to the Garden of Gethsemani. At the same time, the 
hearts of the poor Apostles sink within them for fear that 
they may now be separated from Him; and they gather 
around Him as He goes, like chickens around a hen, with 
holy eagerness to hear Him. Oh ! with what devotion and 
attention they listen to catch the words that escape from 
Him, as words of eternal life. 

Jesus Christ perceiving them so fervent, foretells to 
them what will happen that very night; He warns them 
that the devil will tempt them and sift them as corn is 
sifted in a sieve,, striving to make their faith waver, in the 

0) St. John xiv, 31. 



88 JESUS GOES WITH APOSTLES TO THE GARDEN 



following manner : How can He be God and the Saviour 
of the world who can not save Himself? Their divine 
Master tells them this that they may be humble, and not 
trust to their own feelings of fervor. Human nature is 
frail and weak, — and especially is this true with regard to 
the mysteries of faith: man's reason easily yields if not 
supported by an especial grace from God. 

Here is also a lesson for me. Certain lights, which at 
times arise in my mind, and ardent sentiments of my heart, 
cause me to fancy that I should have fortitude to undergo 
martyrdom rather than deny the Faith. But how often is 
my weakness manifested by palpable proofs. At the ap- 
proach of temptation I am immediately disconcerted, and 
within a hair's-breadth of yielding. I must be on my 
guard with respect to temptations against the Faith. I 
repeat, I must fear these temptations in particular, since, 
to repel them, my own strength must be considered as of no 
account. It is true that the devil can not tempt without 
permission from God, but if He sometimes allows tempta- 
tions as a trial of virtue, how often, at the same time, does 
He permit them purely and simply as a punishment of 
pride. 

my God! what would become of me if Thou didst 
suffer me to lose my faith ? Although I have lost so many 
other virtues, yet if faith still remains all the rest may be 
recovered by means of it. If faith is once lost, I have no 
other virtue that can help me. I deserve that Thou 
shouldst punish me by allowing me to lose the faith which, 
by Thy mercy, was infused into my soul in Baptism, and 
it is principally on account of my pride that I deserve it ; 
this being a vice which in a special way is opposed to faith. 
Thou hast said this in Thy holy Gospel, and true it is that 
faith can not be exercised except by the humble. Without 
humility my fervor is a pure illusion. Without humility I 
shall yield to all temptations. Therefore, most loving 
Saviour, give me that humility of which Thou didst remark 
the absence in Thy Apostles ; and of which Thou seest that 
I am far more in need than they were. 



JESUS GOES WITH APOSTLES TO THE GARDEN 89 



It is probable that at the hour of my death the devil will 
tempt me against faith. Who knows what shall become of 
me in that terrible conflict ? This thought is of paramount 
importance to keep me humble. 

II. When the Apostles heard Jesus Christ foretell the 
temptation that was soon to assail them, they should have 
conceived a great fear of their own weakness and with 
humility have implored the divine assistance. But, without 
any reflection whatever, we behold them all answering, and 
none with such impetuosity as St. Peter, that all of them 
will voluntarily suffer imprisonment and tortures with 
Him, and even loss of life, but never shall they be so weak 
as to be afraid to profess their faith. 

Thus they speak, and particularly St. Peter, who with a 
bold, intrepid voice raised above the others, feels himself 
inwardly moved by a bright light of faith and a transport 
of love. But he does not add that he looks for strength to 
maintain his faith to the grace of God ; and in his devotion 
there appears a certain character of presumption, as he 
promises of himself a thing that is far beyond his power. 
Besides, he boasts that even if the others should waver in 
their faith he never will. Wherefore, from this self-confi- 
dence of St. Peter, Jesus Christ takes occasion to foretell to 
him that he shall deny Him three times that very night. 
Thereby He teaches us all that we must promise ourselves 
nothing from the extraordinary fervor we may at any time 
experience, nor from any immutable resolution that we may 
seem to have made, unless the grace of God mercifully in- 
tervenes in our behalf. 

Oh, prodigious mystery of the wisdom and goodness of 
God, who permits that the stoutest pillars of His Church 
should be shaken to give to us a lesson of humility ! Who 
or what am I, my Lord ! that in my Confessions I should 
promise never more to offend Thee, and in prayer should 
undertake faithfully to attain perfection ? I am as a little 
bird that would fly without wings. I am far, far more 
weak and wretched than was St. Peter, when he, without 
reckoning on Thy help, promised to give his life for Thee. 



90 JESUS GOES WITH APOSTLES TO THE GARDEN 

Grant, then, I beseech Thee, that at all times I may dis- 
trust my own will, my own desires, my resolutions, and that 
I may trust in Thy grace alone, humbly imploring Thee to 
give it to me. 

I have had countless occasions to know, by experience, 
that when I fancy myself rich, then I am most poor ; that 
when I conceive that I am strong, wise, prudent, then it is 
that I prove weak, blind, and foolish ; that when I think I 
have the most courage to support temptations, then I am 
the most inclined, like a coward, to yield to them. my 
God! I confess my wretchedness, my nothingness; and I 
ask of Thee grace to assist me at all times; and may that 
light never forsake me which, at this moment, by Thy 
mercy, enables me to realize that I am good-for-nothing. 

I shall accustom myself carefully to watch over my in- 
terior actions, so that I may remember whether I have 
occasion to avoid some evil or to do something good. I 
must call upon God, trust in God, and acknowledge that 
every good comes from God. 

III. Jesus Christ was wont, after laboring all day for 
the salvation of souls, to retire by night to pray in a garden 
near Mount Olivet. This devout custom He adheres to 
even up to the time of His last night on earth. He goes to 
the identical place in which He knows that Judas will 
shortly be coming, with an armed force, to seize Him, giv- 
ing His disciples to understand that His apprehension will 
be voluntary, not coerced, nor unexpected. In a garden 
— that is, in the earthly Paradise — Adam sinned, and 
brought ruin on the whole world; in a garden, likewise, 
namely, that of Gethsemani, the Saviour enters upon His 
Passion and works out the salvation of the world. 

He enters the garden, to which nothing but His most 
ardent charity leads and invites Him. He foresees that in 
a few hours He will return by the same route in chains, 
dragged forward by His enemies. This does not in the 
slightest degree disturb His equanimity. On the contrary, 
He goes with striking intrepidity to wait for them. As 
usual, He takes with him His Apostles, with whom He 



JESUS GOES WITH APOSTLES TO THE GARDES 91 



converses pleasantly, as if there was no grievous trouble 
awaiting Him ; thereby teaching them and us not to omit 
the practice of prayer, and especially in times of adversity 
to find in it rest for our mind. 

Oh, how just and reasonable, my good Jesus, is Thy 
example ! I do not allow a day to pass without nourishing 
my body. If I can not partake of food at one time, I do 
so at another. How much more should I act in this manner 
with regard to my soul and feed it daily with holy prayer ! 
Yet, how readily do I neglect prayer for any trifling busi- 
ness that may come in my way ! I manage to find time for 
idle talk, for vain and useless pursuits, to gratify my 
curiosity or my taste ; but for prayer I can find no leisure ; 
for prayer I have neither ability, nor resolution, nor incli- 
nation. Here is the root of the evil, my God! Conse- 
quently, I am weak and frail when I meet with temptations 
and occasions of sin. Hence it is that I am a slave to my 
j)assions, because I do not value prayer; and I permit my- 
self to neglect it sometimes from indolence; again on 
account of having my mind distracted by spme vain or 
foolish object. 

Thou ! who now givest me light to realize the necessity 
of prayer, give me also, I beseech Thee, the spirit of prayer, 
that I may pray in a manner pleasing to Thee and profitable 
to myself. Let no day pass in which I do not cast myself 
at Thy feet to reflect on the affair of my salvation. Let no 
day pass in which I do not recommend myself to Thy care, 
in which I do not humble myself in Thy presence, in order 
to obtain help through the merits of Thy Passion. Thou 
hast commanded me to pray, therefore, from Thee, I hope 
for grace to obey this Thy commandment. 

When prevented by insuperable obstacles from making 
my customary prayer I shall be displeased, and I shall make 
it at least in desire and by frequent aspirations to my last 
end, — that is, to God. 



92 PHYSICAL SADXESS Of J E si's IX GETHSEMANl 



CHAP TEE XV. 

PHYSICAL SADXESS OF JESUS CHRIST IN GETHSE3LAXI. 

I. No sooner has Jesus Christ entered the garden than 
He is instantly overwhelmed with fear, sorrow, sadness, and 
depression. Before His enemies come to torment Him in 
His body. He of Himself puts His soul into an agony to a 
degree so violent that it could not possibly have been pro- 
duced or endured except by one who. like Him, was true 
God and true Alan. The Son of God. in becoming Man, 
was pleased to subject Himself to the natural weaknesses 
of man : and now He allows His human nature to endure 
the utmost suffering to which man is subject, in the way 
of fear, melancholy, confusion, anxiety, and anguish. A 
divine Person, condescending thus to bear the most humili- 
ating infirmities of man that He may exalt man to a par- 
ticipation in the high prerogatives of God. — but who can 
express in words this strange, unheard-of passion? 

My soul, behold thy Lord, pale, languid, trembling, dis- 
tressed : a prey to such intense grief that He no longer 
knows what to do with Himself. Now He throws Himself 
face downward on the earth: now He raises His anus to 
heaven: now He takes a few steps forward in the darkness 
of the night, pants, sighs, and groans. In this deep anxiety, 
with this load on His breast which almost deprives Him of 
breath. He would fain give vent to the bitterness of His 
soul: but. instead, it is more confined and concentrated 
within Him and seems to burst and break His Heart. 

Now are the predictions of the Prophets accomplished in 
the soul of Our Saviour, which had been represented to 
them as in the depths of the sea, tossed and convulsed in 
the midst of tumultuous passions, filled with horror, dread 
and woe. He becomes sad. that He may merit gladness for 
us : He is overwhelmed with affliction, that we may be con- 
soled : — and where is the compassion that we have for Him 
in this His bitter anguish ? Oh ! let us ponder well His in- 
terior grief which overflows, as it were, from within, and 
changes His outward appearance. 



PHYSICAL SADNESS OF JESUS IN GETHSEMANI 93 



Ah, most sweet Saviour ! how is it that I see Thy glorious 
soul subject to fear, sadness, and dread? How is it that 
Thou art now in fear who, a while ago, wert encouraging 
the Apostles; Thou Thyself now oppressed with sadness, 
who art the delight and the joy of the angels; now filled 
with dread, though Thou didst so earnestly long for this 
hour ? I know Thou dost take upon Thyself these atrocious 
pains; but is not that already too much which Thou seest 
Thou hast to suffer in Thy body? Why overwhelm Thy 
soul with the load of so many crosses by anticipation ? 
goodness! charity! When Thou dost suffer for me, 
nothing appears too much to Thee. Thou wouldst give me 
to understand how much Thou lovest me that I, in return, 
may love Thee, be grateful to Thee and sympathize with 
Thee; but how shall I be able to sympathize with Thy in- 
terior pains if I do not understand thenl? Do Thou en- 
lighten my understanding, which is so weak ; give strength 
to the desires that I have to follow Thee and imitate Thee 
with tender affections of love in all Thy sorrowful 
mysteries. 

I shall endeavor to make good use of my passions and 
turn them to account for my eternal salvation; as Jesus 
Christ employs His passions in suffering for me, I shall 
strive to mortify mine for the love of Him. 

II. In order that we may obtain a faint conception of 
the interior passion of J esus Christ, let us represent to our- 
selves, in the first place, the divine Will in His regard 
presiding over and commanding the superior part of His 
soul. Then, His human will or reason in everything subject 
and conformed to the divine Will. Lastly, in the inferior 
part of His soul, the sensitive will or appetite, which abhors 
suffering and death; which fears them, has an acute per- 
ception of them and would, as far as possible, avoid them. 
It is true that in Jesus Christ the sensitive powers were 
perfectly submissive to the spirit; yet they were subject to 
the weakness of human nature and capable of being op- 
pressed with fear, trouble, sadness, as the divine Will might 
permit. In this, therefore, consisted the passion of Jesus 



94 PHYSICAL SADNESS OF JESUS IN GETHSEMANI 



Christ in the garden ; namely, in the endurance of all those 
interior fears, sadnesses, and tribulations to which the 
nature of man is liable; the Divinity permitting that this 
should happen, in order to increase the burden of His 
Passion, and at the same time the plenitude of our Ee- 
demption. 

Jesus Christ is aware that His Passion and death have 
been determined in the decrees of God; and the time for 
the execution of these decrees being come, they are an- 
nounced to Him in the garden to the end that His human, 
physical nature may submit to them. He beholds the 
Eternal Father incensed at the sins of the world, command- 
ing the sword of His avenging justice to be unsheathecf 
against Him; and as He sees that the time has now come 
for the blow to be struck, His poor nature, which is left to 
act by its own power and according to its own bent as sim- 
ple nature, is dismayed and distressed to such a degree as 
to testify its mortal sadness by the pallor and sweat that 
are wont to accompany death. 

He had it in His power to be free from sorrow (were it 
not for His desire to suffer and to die). But He was 
pleased to suffer for us all that our nature is capable of 
suffering ; and moreover, while He was able to conceal His 
interior passion, He was pleased that it should be mani- 
fested by outward signs and that the Evangelists should 
relate it for our edification. Behold, then, thy Saviour, 
my soul ! Dost thou see how He languishes with fainting 
and oppression! What are thy sentiments at this sight? 

Jesus ! the most amiable of men, I thank Thee for this 
Thy painful sadness, by the endurance of which Thou didst 
merit for me eternal gladness. Oh, how great is the love 
Thou hast for me ! Oh ! grant that I may never forget the 
sufferings of Thy soul, which are so many favors bestowed 
by Thy mercy upon my soul. Thou didst make use of Thy 
passions to suffer and merit and satisfy for me, because I 
have used my passions to sin. Therefore, what thanks do I 
owe Thee ! most loving Saviour ! I desire to love Thee, 
and to love Thee more and more. But in order that I may 



PHYSICAL SADXESS OF JESUS IN GETESEMAXI 95 



do this Thou must correct the disorder into which my soul 
has been thrown by the rebellion of my sensitive appetite 
against reason, and by the rebellion of my reason against 
Thy divine will. 

When I experience repugnance to the practice of virtue, 
I shall recollect that virtue is, nevertheless, still virtue, and 
is even more meritorious, when, in imitation of Jesus 
Christ, the opposition of nature to its exercise is overcome 
by the spirit. 

III. Kightly to understand the Passion of Jesus Christ 
in the garden, it is important that we be persuaded of the 
truth, — that it was not anything sudden and unforeseen 
that so greatly terrified and afflicted Him. It was not with 
Him as it is with ourselves, who, when troubles come upon 
us, can not help lamenting and being afflicted, because our 
human nature is too weak to resist. To the Man-God noth- 
ing could happen contrary to His will. If He fears and 
grieves and is depressed with sorrow to the point of falling 
into a mortal agon}% all this, we must say with the Projmet, 
is because of His own free choice, He wills it thus. 

Jesus Christ has passions appertaining to His nature, 
but none of them can act except by His own supernatural 
power, so that in Him every inward movement of sadness, 
of repugnance, or fear is voluntary. As He became Man 
in the way and under the circumstances that He made 
choice of, so He suffers the miseries and infirmities of 
human nature when and in what degree He pleases. As the 
sufferings of His body are spontaneous, no less spontaneous 
must be those of His soul. 

Whence I shall draw this reflection: Although it were 
true that Jesus Christ suffered through necessity, even then 
as by His exalted, sublime intentions He could have made 
a virtue of necessity, I should have been strictly bound to 
give Him thanks for so heroic an offering of Himself for 
me to His Eternal Father. Wnat thanks, then, do I not 
owe Him, since, in His case, there was no necessity of any 
kind, and He underwent all that He did suffer by a sponta- 
neous act of His own loving, merciful will, 



96 PHYSICAL SADNESS OF JESUS IN GETHSEMANI 

good Jesus, how much do I owe Thee for that spiritual 
bitterness with which Thou didst fill Thy soul, to obtain 
for my soul spiritual sweetness ! How much do I owe Thee 
for those fears and tremblings that Thou didst produce in 
Thyself in order that my pusillanimous spirit might be 
made stable and resolute in virtue! When some trouble 
comes upon me I begin to think on all the motives I can 
find to be comforted, so as to lighten my pain and suffer as 
little as possible. With marvelous ingenuity Thou didst 
employ Thy thoughts to discover whatever might aggravate 
Thy sorrow, and for no other reason than to give me new 
evidences of Thy love, so much the more indubitable as 
they are stranger and more unexampled. divine Media- 
tor, who placest Thyself in trouble and fear to tranquillize 
our fears and strengthen us in the hope of our eternal salva- 
tion, grant, oh, grant that Thy charity may be corre- 
sponded with by me ! I wish to love Thee, but my heart is 
poor in the extreme. I ask Thee, then, for the grace of 
Thy love, through the merits of Thy soul, which suffered 
such affliction and tribulation in the garden. 

After the example of Jesus Christ, who suffers of His 
own choice and accumulates sufferings on Himself for love 
of me, I shall resolve to practise frequent voluntary suffer- 
ings similar to those that come upon me by necessity. 

IV. In order to cause Himself the utmost affliction 
possible, Jesus Christ excites within Himself all the sad 
thoughts that might distress and grieve Him the most. By 
an act of perfect virtue, He brings before His imagination 
the entire course of His ignominious and painful Passion, 
taking a view — not in general, but distinctly and in their 
minutest detail — of all the dishonors and pains that in a 
short time He will be obliged to undergo. 

In the garden He sees all the insults and affronts that 
He will have to bear. He sees the buffets He will receive on 
His face, all the blows with which His body will be bruised, 
all the thorns that will pierce His head. He sees the num- 
ber of the wounds with which His flesh will be laid bare; 
the quantity of blood that will be shed from His veins ; the 



PHYSICAL SADNESS OF JESUS IN GETHSEMANI 97 

excess of interior pain that He will feel ; and the nature of 
the death that awaits Him. All these sorrowful objects He 
presents to His most tender Heart, and impresses them 
upon It with so livery a force that He suffers in It all at 
once the pains that He will have to endure in His body one 
by one, thus at every moment sacrificing and offering Him- 
self for us unreservedly. 

Beflect, my soul, that Jesus Christ was in the highest 
possible degree susceptible of quick and sensitive emotions, 
because His human nature was most perfect in all its 
powers and organs. On this account there is no doubt that 
His sorrow was, in the utmost degree, acute. Let us form 
an idea of a combination at one and the same time of all 
the most horrible imaginations with which men can be 
shocked and terrified. This would bear no proportion to 
the afflicted apprehensions of Jesus Christ at this time, as 
these were incomparably more severe. For every individual 
pain, whether suffered in His body or suffered in His soul, 
He invites us, by the voice of the Prophet, to contemplate 
as in the highest degree incomparable. 

most holy Eedeemer, how rigorous art Thou toward 
Thyself in order that Thou mayest be merciful toward me ! 
I adore the infinite wisdom manifested in Thy mercy. The 
reason that prompts Thee to endure so frightful a passion 
in the physical faculties of Thy heart is, because the source 
whence all my sins originate is no other than the will of the 
flesh and the concupiscence of the heart. The reason Thou 
didst make a cross for Thyself of Thy passions is, because 
it is precisely in the disorder of my passions that my 
wrong-doing lies. The reason why Thou didst excite fear 
in Thyself was, that Thou mightest give me a fearless con- 
fidence in Thy merits. Ah, my Jesus ! make me then reap 
the fruit of these Thy merits. Cleanse my heart from all 
sin; renew it by giving me a true spirit of penance, with 
which I may always grieve and be afflicted for all those sins 
of mine that have been the occasion of Thy bitter afflictions. 
This was Thy intention; therefore, it is the fruit to be 
gained by me. 



98 PHYSICAL SADXESS OF JESUS IX GETHSEMAXI 



From the interior passion of J esus Christ I will learn 
that it is the interior man that must be reformed in me. 
Consequently, I shall be attentive to this reformation, be- 
ginning with the ruling of that passion within me which is 
the most predominant. 

V. The violent passion which, above all, torments the 
soul of Jesus Christ with regard to its sensitive faculties, 
in the garden, is the fear of death, — a violent, imminent, 
inevitable death, which He apprehends in the most lively 
manner as an evil the most grievous imaginable in the or- 
der of nature, by which His precious life is to be destroyed. 
It is true that His ignominious death is to be succeeded by 
a glorious Besurrection, but the sensitive appetite which is 
instinctively ruled by one desire of the preservation of 
this present life looks not beyond it. It is this appetite 
that abhors death ; that, from fear of it, is moved to restless 
tremors and contortions; that grieves, resists, and would 
rather not die. But as it is divinely decreed that death can 
not be escaped, and reason submits to this decree, the result 
is that a conflict arises between reason which obeys, and 
sense which resists ; poor, weak, human nature, tossed and 
distracted by this afflicting, oppressive fear of death, suffers 
what are called the agonies of death. 

But let us consider the wise providence of God, permit- 
ting in this manner the sensitive appetite to make this op- 
position in order that, in proportion to the violence of its 
reluctance, the obedience of Our Saviour might have the 
greater virtue and be more meritorious as a satisfaction 
for Adam's disobedience. It is thus permitted that the 
Heart of Jesus Christ, in obeying the divine Will, should 
tie- agitated with the most painful opposition of the flesh 
aud of • sense,, since it is precisely from the sensual appetite 
that all the sins of the world had their beginning. 

my Jesus, my God ! what golden lessons dost Thou give 
me in the garden how to obey Thy holy commandments, in 
spite of my passions and of the wearisome repugnance of 
my nature. Oh, how happy should I be if but in this point 
alone I was truly resolved to imitate Thee! I. am grieved 



PHYSICAL SADNESS OF JESUS IN GETHSEMANI 99 



for the innumerable acts of disobedience to Thy divine 
Majesty of which I have been guilty by not resisting the 
movements of my senses. For the future I promise to do 
violence to myself and to obey Thee. But as there is in me 
so strong an opposition to virtue and my spirit is so weak, 
and since I have nothing in which to trust but Thy merits 
and Thy help, behold, I here offer Thee my wretched heart, 
which of itself can effect nothing against such a host of 
wicked passions as I find within myself. Vouchsafe, I be- 
seech Thee, to fortify it with Thy holy grace so that I may 
be faithful to my resolution of obeying the divine Will, 
leaving nature to suffer what it may. 

In the Heart of Jesus I find the school of my eternal 
salvation. Herein consists the essence of Christian per- 
fection ; namely, invariably to prefer the divine Will to the 
will of the flesh and of the senses. 

VI. Jesus Christ fears death as a man, thus giving evi- 
dence of His being really Man. And since in His own 
person He is the representative of every man individually, 
He has been pleased to leave us, in this fear, a most im- 
portant instruction. In order to gather fruit from it let us 
reflect and reason upon it. If Jesus Christ is overwhelmed 
with distress from a natural fear of the separation which 
takes place, by death, of His soul from the body, what fear 
should not the thought of death create in me, viewing it, 
as I must, in the light of faith. 

Jesus Christ had nothing to fear at the tribunal of God, 
because He is the King of innocence, innocence itself ; and 
there is no one who can convict Him of sin, the devil having 
found in Him not the shadow of a fault. Justly I have 
every reason to fear. This thought should maintain my 
heart, day and night, in fear : that I have to die, and after 
death to appear for judgment loaded with the guilt of 
numberless iniquities. Yet the thought of death does not 
disturb me, and the fear of death produces in me no com- 
punction. I live as if I were never to die, or as if nothing 
were to take place after death in regard to me. I fear death 
as animals do — through natural instinct. I fear it as 



100 PHYSICAL SADNESS OF JESUS IN GETHSEMAN1 



Turks also do — from the attachment I have to this wretched 
earth. But I do not fear it on account of what faith teaches 
in respect to it, as every good Christian, if he would lead 
an exemplary life, should fear it. 

Grant, Lord, my God! I beseech Thee, that I may 
never lose sight of the moment of my death: of that mo- 
ment which is to fix my doom for a blessed or a miserable 
eternity; of that moment after which no more moments 
will be given me for doing penance, and concerning which 
Thou hast warned me to be watchful because it will come 
unawares. Pierce me through with Thy holy fear, my 
God ! with fear of eternity, in which I am uncertain of my 
state; with fear of Thy judgment, which will be rigorous 
on me; with fear of my sins, the number of which daily 
increases. If even he, whoever he be, who is conscious of 
no sin must tremble and cry for mercy before the throne of 
Thy justice, what shall become of me with a conscience 
that accuses me of sins past reckoning ? my J esus, Thou 
who wilt be my Judge, give me, through Thy merits, Thy 
true spirit, by which I may accustom myself to die to the 
concupiscences of the flesh and of the world, and live no 
longer except to love Thee and to imitate and enjoy Thee 
for all eternity. 

At the moment of death I shall be judged for many 
things of which I now make no scruple. I have reason to 
fear on account of my lax conscience, which seems afraid 
of nothing but some especially enormous sins. 

VII. From the first moment of His life to the last, the 
interior passion of Jesus Christ was incessant, because the 
constant apprehension of what He had to suffer exteriorly 
kept Him always in bitter and excruciating anxiety. All 
His previous sadness, as it was mingled with spiritual joy 
which caused Him often to speak of His death with longing 
and satisfaction, could hardly be called sadness when com- 
pared with what He underwent in the garden. 

What He then suffered in His most holy sonl was ex- 
treme, because it was pure, unmitigated suffering, without 
relief or consolation : for Jesns Christ, now confining to 



PHYSICAL SADNESS OF JESUS IN GETHSEMANI 101 

His spirit all the glory of His Godhead, and not imparting 
the slightest portion to His sensitive faculties, while He 
continues in a supreme degree happy in the paradise which 
the superior faculties of His soul enjoy, is at the same time, 
profoundly afflicted in His inferior faculties, which He, as 
it were, buries in a chaos of obscurity, dryness, sorrow, and 
depression. His human nature rejoices and suffers at the 
same time; and as, on the one hand, its joy is nowise ren- 
dered less perfect by the suffering, so its suffering receives 
riot the least diminution from the joy. 

All this is true, because He Himself thus freely chooses 
and ordains it. In the same way as God, in the Creation, 
divided the waters which were above the firmament from 
those that were below it, those above being calm and tran- 
quil, while those below were liable to be tossed by winds; 
so, in the Eedemption, the waters of divine consolation 
which, in the person of Jesus Christ, filled the superior 
faculties of His soul, were divided from the waters of 
tribulation that inundated the inferior. Ways and means 
of consolation were not wanting to the Man-God. But He 
rejects all that might alleviate His Passion, and accepts 
whatever may aggravate it. And why is this? It is to 
merit Paradise for me, where happiness is pure without 
alloy of pain, and to save me from hell, where pain is pure 
without admixture of happiness; also to animate me to 
imitate Him in this vale of tears, in which pleasures and 
pains are commingled. 

good J esus ! how different is my interior state from 
Thine. My thoughts and desires aim only at avoiding 
troubles and suffering and procuring for myself comforts, 
indulgences, and amusements. Instil into me, I beseech 
Thee, sentiments worthy of a soul created for eternity and 
bound by so many obligations and motives to imitate Thee. 
Meanwhile I thank Thee for Thy love, and offer Thee the 
bitter sorrows of Thy Heart in atonement for the sins that 
I have committed in pursuit of pleasure. 

1 shall resolve to imitate Jesus Christ by depriving my- 



102 MENTAL SADNESS OF JESUS IN GETESEMAN1 



self of some lawful gratification, and by suffering patiently, 
without complaint, any inconveniences appertaining to my 
state of life. 



CHAPTEE XVI. 

MENTAL SADNESS OF JESUS CHRIST IN GETHSEMANI. 

I. Jesus Christ was pleased to suffer, not only in every 
part of His body, but in every part of His soul as well. Not 
alone in the sensitive inferior part, but moreover in the 
superior part in which the understanding resides. Al- 
though in His mind the vision of God made Him happy, 
nevertheless He discovered miraculous ways of uniting in 
His mind, together with the supreme joy of His glory, 
intense sorrow, arising from reflection on all the sins of the 
world and abhorrence of them. True it is that throughout 
His life He had at all times a clear knowledge of them. 
However, now in the garden He meditates on their enor- 
mity with more intense application of mind. 

Jesus Christ having in His Incarnation taken the form, 
not of one man, but of all men, it is here, in the garden, 
that He practically and really plunges into the miseries of 
all. He represents to Himself all the sins of the world that 
have been committed since the time of Adam, and that shall 
be committed until the Day of Judgment. He beholds 
them with His mind's eye, not confusedly, as we may do, 
but with perfect distinctness as to number, kind, and cir- 
cumstance, and with all their degrees of malice, precisely as 
if each sinner was there in the garden committing them 
before His face. What horrible, tormenting thoughts 
to a Man-God ! Now may He complain, with the Prophet, 
that the torrents of iniquity have encompassed Him; and 
well may we condole and complain that the bitterness of 
His immense sorrow is like a fathomless sea into which all 
the rivers of woe are poured. 

Here let me reflect upon myself, and not lose sight of 
self while tracing out the sins of others. Jesus has present 



MENTAL SADNESS OF JESUS IN GETHSEMANI 1Q3 



to Hini, in the most perfect manner, all my sins of thought, 
word, and action. All, as many as I have committed from 
my first coining to the nse of reason, by day or by night, 
alone or in company with others. They are all before His 
eyes, such as they are, in number, in quality, in all their 
monstrous hideousness. Moreover, as He realizes that I 
have no penitential sorrow for them myself, He gives Him- 
self up at this black, frightful prospect, to mortal sadness. 

Oh, what a great evil must sin be, since the mere repre- 
sentation of it, my Jesus ! is sufficient to make Thy spirit 
thus sad and disconsolate, which at the same time is in the 
enjoyment of the exceeding bliss of glory. I am grieved for 
having thus embittered the sweetness of Thy interior joy 
by my sins. Oh, would that I could afford Thee some re- 
freshment in Thy anguish ! But yes, with one of those 
helps that Thou hast purchased for me I can do it, and for 
this help I ask Thee, through Thy merits, graciously to 
give me. Communicate to my heart a portion of that 
sadness which my sins have brought upon Thee and I 
am confident that as, while in the state of sin, I have 
afflicted Thee, so I shall please and console Thee when I 
shall be truly penitent. 

I shall excite myself to sorrow for my sins. I shall im- 
plore the Lord to give me an abhorrence of mortal sin so 
that I may fear all danger of it, avoid all its occasions, and, 
as far as possible, fly its very shadow. 

IT. Jesus Christ, in the garden, sees all the sins of the 
world, past, present, and future. He beholds them not by 
a mere human, superficial understanding of them, but with 
a clearness of knowledge immense and incomprehensible, 
such as all men and angels united have not and can not 
have ; thoroughly penetrating the depths of their malignity 
and hatefulness. As in Him are hidden all the treasures of 
wisdom and knowledge, as in Him dwells all the fulness 
of the Godhead, He knows perfectly what mortal sin is; 
and between the manner of His knowing it and of ours 
there is an incalculable difference. AYe also know that 
mortal sin is a grievous offence against God; but as God is 



104 MENTAL SADNESS OF JESUS IN GETHSEMAXI 

known to us only in a dark manner by faith, so the knowl- 
edge which we have of sin is likewise dark. 

Jesus Christ, with His mind, sees and knows thoroughly 
the infinite goodness and majesty of God. Hence, He also 
knows thoroughly the infinite malice and heinousness of 
every mortal sin which is a direct injury to the infinite 
greatness of God, and it is this knowledge that occasions 
Him a load of sorrow and consternation which it is im- 
possible for us to express or to comprehend. 

Let me reflect : If the devil were visibly to appear to me, 
in all his frightful hideousness, without doubt I should 
tremble, I should sweat, I should faint with fear. But what 
comparison is there between all the devils of hell put to- 
gether and the inconceivably terrible deformity of one mor- 
tal sin ? What, then, was the state of Jesus Christ when so 
many millions of millions of most hateful sins were before 
His eyes at one moment? He knew perfectly the exceed- 
ingly abominable wickedness of each. If He was afflicted 
beyond measure at the thought of the cross, which is the 
medicine of the evil, what must have been His affliction at 
the sight of so many of the evils themselves ! 

most holy soul of Jesus ! even if my eyes were two foun- 
tains of tears, could I worthily compassionate Thee? I 
must indemnify myself for my little compassion by ad- 
miration. Thou, who hadst me present to Thee in the 
garden, who didst see in my conscience innumerable sins, 
how couldst Thou endure me? Still more, how couldst 
Thou love me, beholding me full of disgusting deformities ? 
infinite mercy! But how does it happen, that while 
Thou art so afflicted at the sight of my sins I should be so 
insensible to them ? I know not what sin is ; I know well 
enough that I ought not to commit it ; but I desire to have 
such a knowledge of it as may move me to sorrow. I be- 
seech Thee make me know and feel the grievousness of 
the evil ; since I shall never be able heartily to say, miserere 
mei, Deus, have mercy on me, God, if I can not also add : 
iniquitatem meam ego cognosco, 1 I know my iniquity, 

« Psalm 1, 4, 



MENTAL SADNESS OF JESUS IN GETHSEMANI 105 



The Passion of Jesus Christ can in the best manner give 
me light to know sin and motives for detesting it. There- 
fore, I shall meditate upon it devoutly every day, as noth- 
ing can be more profitable for me. 

III. Jesus Christ is sad on account of the sins of the 
whole world; but, more than all, the sins of the people of 
Israel afflict Him because they are His people, on whom 
He has looked with favor, whom He has loved the most, and 
whose God and Saviour He loves, in an especial way, to 
call Himself. What must He think, what must be His 
reflections, on beholding His people in array before His 
mind, making so ungrateful a return for His mercies and 
repaying all His favors with so many sins? Now they 
prepare ropes and chains to bind and crucify Him who 
came from heaven to earth in order to work out their 
eternal salvation. The sins of the Jewish people were far 
more grievous than those of all other nations, and oh ! how 
much greater pain do they give to the Heart of Jesus ! 

But since we Christians have much more reason to say 
to Jesus that we are the people of His predilection, we have 
also good reason to believe that it is our sins that afflict Him 
most heavily. Assuredly, a sin committed by a Christian 
who makes profession of living in the religion of the true 
God is more grievous than one committed by an infidel. 
The mysteries and Sacraments of His faith aggravate it, 
and iniquity becomes more heinous in proportion as a man 
has stronger reasons to oblige him to follow a life of holi- 
ness. There can be no question that when a Christian 
offends Jesus Christ by sin — Jesus Christ whom he ac- 
knowledges as the Man-God, — he commits a greater enor- 
mity than did one of those Jews who looked on Him as a 
mere man. Therefore, Jesus Christ also complains with 
justice of the evil lives of Christians more than of the 
perfidy of the J ews. I shall reflect on this truth and apply 
it to myself. 

When I duly consider my own state and examine my 
conscience, I reckon, most sweet Saviour ! that among all 
the sinners who were present to Thy mind in the garden 



106 MENTAL SADXESS OF JESUS IN GETHSEMAXI 

there is not one who afflicted Thee more sensibly than I, 
since I know of none more guilty or more ungrateful than 
myself, who have offended Thee in spite of such abundant 
lights and favors and helps as I have received from Thee. 
The sins of the Jews and of the various classes of infidels 
are not so grievous as mine. I am worse than they, since 
their ignorance is some excuse for them; whereas I have 
faith, which pleads against and condemns me. The Jews 
raged against Thy body. I, with greater cruelty, have 
pierced Thy soul. 

my God! I can only repeat that I am grieved and 
repent of my wicked life. I am pained to think that while 
I am easily vexed at any worldly misfortune that happens 
to me, I am incapable of entertaining a sincere and abiding 
sorrow for my sins, nor do I condole with Thee in Thy 
sorrows. most gracious Jesus ! give me, I beseech Thee, 
a proof of Thy great mercy by imparting Thy graces to a 
sinner who, of all men, is the least deserving of them. 

My character of Christian is a powerful motive for me 
to be sorry for my sins. Oh, what an evil thing it is to be 
infinitely favored by God in His holy Church and by sin 
to be infinitely ungrateful to Him ! 

IV. The interior of Jesus Christ is a sacred sanctuary 
into which we may not enter. Although we can not arrive 
at comprehending how His soul was susceptible of suffering, 
while yet intimately united with God, we can not be mis- 
taken in believing that the Divinity wrought miracles, both 
in leaving His Humanity to suffer, and furthermore, in 
positively concurring with its greater suffering. That 
Jesus Christ in the midst of such intense pains preserved 
His life is a miracle. It is a miracle that He was at the 
same time making His way to the possession of God and 
actually possessing Him. That His spirit was at the same 
time in bliss by reason of the glory which He enjoyed, and 
afflicted by the motives of sadness that overwhelmed Him ; 
this is a miracle of exceeding wonder. The soul of Jesus 
Christ, by being united with God in one person, has a per- 
fect knowledge of all there is to afflict it, and in proportion 



MENTAL SADNESS OF JESUS IN GETHSEMANI 107 



as this knowledge is clearer, so is the affliction greater ; and 
when under this pressure of affliction, corresponding to the 
highest degree of knowledge, His Humanity ought nat- 
urally to sink, it is again strengthened by His Divinity to 
endure. 

When we are in any trouble, we find relief in the remem- 
brance of God. We know that the martyrs rejoiced in their 
pains, because the grace of God refreshed them with interior 
sweetness and made them oblivious of their torments. But 
in the Passion of Jesus Christ not only does His Divinity 
send no drop of consolation to sweeten His cup of bitter- 
ness, but it contributes powerfully to embitter it. 

I shall reflect why Jesus Christ, as God, elects to increase 
the sorrow of His Passion, making His suffering pure, un- 
mitigated, and unalleviated by any comfort. He suffers 
to satisfy for sin; and as sin is an unmixed' evil, as it alone 
can be properly called a real evil, the suffering must cor- 
respond to it. It must be pure and real sorrow. Hence it 
is that the sorrows of Our Lord, both His physical and 
mental sorrow, are compared to those of hell; — being sor- 
rows most intense and unmixed, admitting of no drop of 
cordial to mitigate them. 

Oh, what a dreadful evil is sin ! and yet how frequently 
have I committed it as if it were something of no conse- 
quence. Though I had been guilty but of a single mortal 
sin, I must have despaired if left to myself. How, my 
God ! could I make satisfaction for so great an evil ? But 
far be despair from me. Thanks to Thy goodness, Eter- 
nal Father ! as Thy Son made Man has satisfied for me, in 
Him I find rest and hope again. Jesus, overwhelmed 
with miseries, but still more full of mercies ! Mine are the 
miseries ; the mercies are Thine. And oh ! how far do Thy 
mercies exceed my miseries. 

I shall prepare myself by a determined resolution to 
accept and endure every evil rather than ever commit a 
single mortal sin, since there exists no evil that deserves 
the name of pure evil or of real evil except sin. 

V. "Not only does Jesus Christ in the garden see with 



108 MENTAL SADNESS OF JESUS IN GETHSEMANI 

His mind's eye the sins of all the world, but He beholds 
them as Saviour of mankind. He takes up the sins of all 
nations, of Jews, Gentiles, and bad Christians; and lays 
them on Himself to bear the weight of them, making them 
in a manner His own, as if they were His own sins, com- 
mitted by Himself. In what a state must He have been 
beneath this great world of iniquities amongst which we 
must recollect were also our own. What must we suppose 
His distress to have been when weighed down with a burden 
so heavy and so immense. 

Represent to thyself, my soul, the most innocent soul of 
Jesus, that neither has sinned nor could sin, and that has 
an extreme detestation of sin; — what must have been its 
trouble and affliction when loaded with so great a multitude 
of sins appertaining to others, without measure, bounds, or 
number ? What a torment for that most humble soul to be 
under such a load of pride ? for that most pure soul, under 
all that luxury ? for that most holy soul, that soul supremely 
full of love for God, to bear the weight of so much impious 
wickedness and villainy, and so many heinous offences 
against God ? Who could form an idea of the interior senti- 
ment of that unspotted Humanity, obliged to conceive itself 
guilty of all manner of crimes and charged with their 
punishment ? 

There is no comparison or parallel by which an idea of 
this case can be expressed. However, we shall endeavor to 
understand it as we may. What an agonizing torment must 
it be to Jesus to feel so many sins, not His own, laid upon 
His back ? True, He may console Himself with the thought 
that it all happens thus because He chooses it, and He is 
satisfying His own desire. But then He rejects everything 
that might console Him, and accepts only what may aggra- 
vate His sorrow, in order that His suffering may be un- 
mixed and His Passion may reach the utmost limit of 
severity, since He comes to make satisfaction by it for sin 
and it must be proportioned to that same most grievous 
evil of sin. 

Although piety is shocked at the thought, yet I cling to 



MENTAL SADNESS OF JESUS IN GETHSEMANI 109 

it, and firmly believe, my suffering Saviour ! that Thou 
hast taken all my sins upon Thee to satisfy the divine 
justice for me; that Thou hast taken to Thyself all the 
reasons for sorrow that belong to me that Thou mightest 
impart to me Thy joy; that Thou hast made my iniquities 
Thine own that Thy holiness might become mine. Oh, how 
great are my obligations to Thee; with what pure love am 
I bound to love Thee in return for Thy pure unmixed sor- 
rows ! What a debt of gratitude do I owe Thy incompre- 
hensible goodness and Thy most profound humility, since, 
not content with becoming Man and taking upon Thyself 
the infirmities of man, Thou hast also chosen to act the part 
of a sinner ! I beseech Thee through this same humility of 
Thine remove pride far from me. Oh ! let me not be under 
the dominion of a vice which is the actual cause of Thy 
Passion. 

I shall grieve for my own sins, in imitation of Jesus 
Christ, who grieves for sins not His own. And as He, for 
these sins that are not His, humbles Himself so far as to 
be reputed a sinner, I shall acknowledge myself a sinner 
for my own sins. 

VI. In the whole Passion the interior of Jesus Christ 
must be attentively considered, since virtue, perfection, 
holiness, properly are in the interior; — and it is our own 
interior that we have more especially to put in order. 
When we say that Jesus Christ has taken upon Himself all 
the sins of the world, we mean that He has made Himself 
surety for us to the divine justice. By a surety we mean a 
mediator who takes upon himself another person's debts, 
and binds himself of his own accord to pay all that which 
the debtor himself can not pay. So that, whenever a de- 
mand is made which the debtor does not pay, the surety 
must pay it, though bound to do so by no reason but be- 
cause he is his surety. 

Now, we being debtors to God and deserving of eternal 
death for sin, and sin being a debt of an infinite amount 
on account of the infinite majesty of the God whom we 
have offended, and it being beyond the ability of the whole 



HO MENTAL SADNESS OF JESUS IN GETHSEMANI 



human race together and of all other creatures whatsoever 
to pay this debt, what did the Son of God do? By His 
charity, only, He was moved to take compassion on man. 
He became Man, and in His character of Man-God He pre- 
sented Himself to the Eternal Father as our surety, and 
taking upon Himself the whole of our debt, He pledged 
Himself to pay it for us. 

In this light we must regard Jesus Christ in the garden. 
He is loaded with our sins; that is, with our debts. Hav- 
ing made Himself surety for us, not as though He had need 
of us ; it being we only who have extreme need of Him. 
Accordingly, we see Him now as our surety, in the act of 
paying and making satisfaction for us ; delivering His soul 
to most afflicting mortal sadness and offering it up as pay- 
ment of an infinite amount, to cancel the items registered 
against us in the books of divine justice and to set us free 
from eternal death. 

Let us reflect. If there existed a debt that all the 
revenues of all the princes and kings in the world could not 
pay, we should consider this debt a very heavy one. What 
kind of debt then shall we say, what a most heavy debt, is 
that incurred by a mortal sin, which can not be liquidated 
with all the merits of all the creatures that are on earth and 
in heaven, and for which no adequate satisfaction can be 
made except by the most cruel Passion of a Man-God. This 
thought is sufficient to keep me humble, as I must look 
upon myself as a poor, unhappy bankrupt. And now, 
Jesus having made satisfaction for me with His own life, 
what do I owe to this my Surety? 

good Jesus! if I had at my disposal the lives of all 
men in the world, and were to employ them all for entire 
ages in Thy service, it would all amount to nothing as a 
return for what I owe Thee. How then shall I not give 
Thee, at least, the remains of this one poor life of mine by 
living henceforward only to love and to serve Thee, as a 
return of gratitude for the grievous afflictions borne by 
Thee to deliver me from eternal pains? my God, may 
my life be wholly Thine! 



MENTAL SADNESS Ofr JESUS IN GETHSEMANI m 



Jesus Christ is become nry surety ; but I also, as debtor- 
in-chief to the divine justice, must cooperate with His 
merits to satisfy, as well as I may, by penance for my sins. 

VII. Our afflicted Saviour groans and sinks under this 
accumulated physical and mental pain ; and finding Him- 
self, as it were, abandoned, deprived of that spiritual unc- 
tion which He usually experiences, He turns for consolation 
in His necessity to His three confidential Apostles, who 
are with Him. And as on Tabor He had given them proofs 
of His being true God by unveiling the treasures of His 
glory, so now in the garden He gives to the same three 
evidences of His being true Man by discovering to them 
His human infirmities, which are not imaginary but real 
and truly deserving of compassion. He says to them, My 
soul is sorrowful even unto death. Stay you here and watch 
with Me. 1 

What sayest thou, my soul, on beholding the God of con- 
solation and the Comforter of the afflicted reduced to so 
great, so bitter tribulation as to have need of comfort ? He 
who, a while ago, with His most beautiful countenance dis- 
persed the clouds of melancholy from the souls of those who 
saw Him and carried away their hearts, brought to such 
extremity as to beg a little comfort in His distress from 
three poor fishermen ? What dost thou say on hearing Him 
in His wretched state asking, with a lamentable voice, pity 
and compassion from His friends like another Job ? 

We admired Jesus Christ when, in the supper room, He 
condescended to wash the feet of His Apostles. This, how- 
ever, was an honorable kind of humiliation, in the midst of 
which He asserted His dignity as Master and Lord and 
made Himself feared and obeyed. But now He humbles 
Himself so far as to confess to these three His own in- 
firmities and to beg their assistance, as one who, of him- 
self, has neither spirit, nor strength, nor courage, to bear up 
against troubles. This is humbling Himself, as though He 
were abject and pusillanimous; He here shows Himself a 
poor wretched worm of a man, without one visible trace 

(0 St. Matt, xxvi, 38. 



112 THE APOSTLES ASLEEP IN THE GARDEN 



of His Divinity left. All this abjection was of His own 
free choice. Oh, what a great example it is for me ! 

But, furthermore, I see that after their divine Master 
has thus humbled Himself to His Apostles they continue 
stretched on the ground, their eyes half closed in sleep, and 
as if they were beings devoid of understanding, they make 
Him no reply. No, not one half word of consolation or 
compassion. Thus has He Himself ordered it, that His 
Humanity should seek some one to comfort Him and find 
none; so that, in His Passion, He might be left utterly 
destitute of relief either from God or man. Ah, my Jesus, 
I exclaim, what charity, what humility, what patience ! 
However, this is something for me not only to admire, but 
to imitate. And when shall I bewail my pride and ingrati- 
tude, if I am not moved to bewail it now in contemplating 
this mystery of Thy sublime charity and of Thy profound 
humility? Eternal Father, move me to make those affec- 
tions which Thou dost desire to see in me on an occasion 
of this kind. 

In imitation of Jesus Christ, who, in His interior pas- 
sion, willed to deprive Himself of all human consolation, 
I also resolve to deprive my sensual appetite of some in- 
dulgence that it craves. The remembrance of the bitterness 
of His cup shall make all things sweet to me. 



CHAPTEE XVII. 

THE APOSTLES ASLEEP IN THE GARDEN. 

I. Jesus Christ, having taken with Him to the garden 
the three Apostles, Peter, James, and John, His confiden- 
tial friends, tells them of the sadness that so bitterly afflicts 
Him at the prospect of the dreadful Passion, the hour of 
which is now rapidly approaching. They have scarcely 
heard His complaint and lamentation, in a distressed 
tone and with sighs that would move any one to compas- 
sion, before they yield to heavy melancholy ; and, overcome 
with sorrow, they fall asleep. 



TEE APOSTLES ASLEEP IN TEE GARDEN 113 

These three Apostles were selected by Our Saviour as the 
most fervent of all. As they alone had been witnesses of 
the manifestation of His Divinity in His glorious Trans- 
figuration on Mount Tabor, they ought also to have been 
courageous enough to stand by Him with the greatest forti- 
tude and watchfulness now that His afflictions, of which 
they have been forewarned, were drawing near. Xotwith- 
standing, they lie down carelessly and lazily to sleep at a 
time when, above all others, they should have shown their 
fidelity and vigilance. They have not one sentiment of 
sympathy for Jesus, while He is suffering such exceeding 
grief for them. 

Whether sleepiness arise from natural weakness or from 
the temptations of the devil, there is no doubt that it shows 
vicious slothfulness to fall asleep when we should reflect on 
the Passion of Jesus Christ. I have then to consider my- 
self. At times I have, it is true, some little fervor ; but in 
general, oh, what tepidity and sloth, what heaviness and 
aversion and weariness do I experience when I meditate on 
the sacred Passion ! What are my feelings even now, while 
I am representing to myself the sadness of Jesus Christ in 
the garden ? my God ! my affections are positively 
asleep. I have neither spirit to imitate Him, nor feeling 
to sympathize with Him. Can there be a worse case of 
spiritual sloth than to be unwilling to meditate on those 
pains which Jesus was so willing to suffer ? There is a kind 
of lukewarmness that moves God to abandon a soul. Who 
knows that the careless, lazy state in which I pass my days 
is not this identical thing? 

my God ! this reflection fills me with alarm. It might 
easily lead me to despondency, to which I am much in- 
clined; but I implore Thy grace that it may rather be a 
means for me to acquire humility. Let me be urged, at the 
very time in which I am most lukewarm, to acknowledge 
how great is my misery, and how great, consequently, is 
my need of assistance. I prefer to be tepid and humble, 
gathering fruits of humility from my tepidity, than fervent 
and presumptuous, trusting with vain complacence to my 



H4 THE APOSTLES ASLEEP tN THE GAPDES 



sentiments of zeal. And even at this moment, what great 
reason have I to humble myself on account of my tepidit}', 
feeling, as I do, on the one hand, a desire which Thou, 
my God ! givest me, to seek perfection in earnest ; and on 
the other, a conviction that I have not strength for it, and 
that I can not even with profit make a few considerations 
on Thy Passion. 

I shall watch over this lnkewarmness that it may not 
become habitual to me. The turning to account my present 
lnkewarmness in order to acquire humility will be an ex- 
cellent means, in time, to gain fervor. 

II. Jesus Christ, finding the Apostles asleep after He 
had charged them to be watchful in prayer, reproves Peter 
especially for not having done violence to himself and 
watched at least one hour with Him. Peter, a short time 
previously, had declared that he would have more courage 
than the rest to endure prisons and death for love of His 
Master ; and it was for this reason that this divine Master 
took him with Him into the garden, that he might learn 
how all amounts to nothing which an unassisted man can do 
who of himself promises great things. Deservedly He now 
humbles him and gives him to understand, by his present 
weakness, how rash had been his boastful protestation. As 
though He would say to him: What? Could you not 
watch one hour with Me? 1 

I shall consider how Peter, convicted by experience and 
by his own conscience, makes no reply, for he knows not 
what to answer to this reproof. It adds to his confusion to 
recollect that he had often been able to watch and labor 
whole nights at fishing with his companions, and now he 
has a practical proof that he has not the grace to watch and 
pray one short hour for the good of his soul. Oh, how 
much there is here for me to apply to myself ! 

In the service of God, especially in prayer, what feelings 
of heaviness and fatigue come over me, — whereas I am al- 
ways ready for anything that suits my taste or gratifies my 
sense ! Nothing tires me except my exercises of piety. I 

0) St. Matt, xxvi, 40. 



TEE APOSTLES ASLEEP IN THE GARDEN 115 

am never tired of doing nothing, or of idle conversation. 
But how long do I intend to continue in this slothful 
state ? What excuse shall there be for me, my God ! at 
Thy tribunal when it will be seen how often I have con- 
trolled my passions from motives of human prudence and 
to satisfy vanity, but have scarcely ever been able to con- 
quer them for Thy love ? 

The reproof made to the Apostle applies equally to me. 
Sometimes I say that I would gladly give my life for the 
love of God. But how can this be, when I can not mortify 
myself in a slight trifle of daily occurrence for the love of 
God? I have practical lessons of humility, frequently 
enough, in my cowardice and weakness ; yet, for all this, I 
am not humble. 

When I reflect, my God, I imagine at first that I trust 
in Thee; but, after all, I perceive that in my resolutions I 
have a lurking presumption of my own strength. How can 
this be ever eradicated, since in the very act of resolving 
not to be presumptuous self-love insinuates itself and 
makes me presume upon myself again ? my dear Jesus ! 
behold my misery and assist me. Let me not fall under 
the curse pronounced on the man who trusts in men; 
a curse that might apply to me, since I trust in myself. 
Let me rather share in that precious blessing promised to 
the man that trusts in Thee. 

I shall examine myself with regard to spiritual sloth, 
which makes me either leave undone or do with a bad grace 
whatever I have to perform in the service of God. I shall 
endeavor to do my utmost to conquer it, since of its own 
nature it is a capital or mortal sin. 

III. We must weigh well the reason why Jesus Christ 
enjoins His Apostles to pray, and why He reproves them 
when, instead of praying, He finds them asleep. Watch 
ye, and pray, He says, that ye enter not into temptation. 
The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is wealc. 1 He 
does not tell them to pray that they may not be tempted, 
but that they may not be overcome by the temptation which 

(0 St. Matt, xxvi, 41. 



116 THE APOSTLES ASLEEP IN THE GARDEN 

will shortly come upon them to deny Him, fly from and 
forsake Him. It is as if He had said : You are My Apos- 
tles, the princes of My Church, strengthened with the food 
of My Body and Blood and of My holy word. But with all 
this, you have need of prayer to keep you from falling, be- 
cause, in the dangers that are coming upon you, your weak 
nature will give way if not supported by divine help. 

These words we should consider as addressed to ourselves 
also by the Saviour of the world, since we have so many 
enemies within and without so fully capable of making us 
transgress and come to perdition. There is no place nor 
time in which we may not be assailed unawares, and have 
to fight for our life. Hence the necessity of fortifying our- 
selves by prayer that we may not be overthrown. By 
neglecting prayer the Apostles were vanquished by tempta- 
tion. How then shall we escape ruin if we do not pray; 
that is, if we have not recourse to God to obtain His help ? 

Reflect, my soul, that there is no temptation more 
dangerous for us than those by which, for one excuse or 
other, the devil tries to make us give up prayer; since, if 
he conquers us in this, he has conquered in all. Nay, to 
neglect prayer is already to be overcome. How greatly 
then ought we to value prayer ! What diligence do we use 
in making it ? 

wretched, miserable being that I am, besides the 
temptations of the devil and the world I am beset with 
temptations from my own depraved passions, and I realize 
the extreme need I have of recommending myself to Thee, 
my God ! Yet I am so careless, so negligent in this re- 
spect. Nay, more; I am so presumptuous as to imagine 
myself in safety without prayer. One of the following 
alternatives must be true : either I am already a slave of my 
enemies, while my blindness hides it from me ; or being, by 
Thy mercy, preserved from so many sins that I might com- 
mit and do not, I am yet a most wicked sinner because most 
ungrateful to Thy infinite goodness. Be this as it may, my 
state is fearfully perilous. My Jesus, I beseech Thee to 



PRAYER OF JESUS IN THE GARDEN H7 



give me a love of prayer, and enlighten me to know how 
great my misery is without it. 

I shall repent of the innumerable occasions that I ought 
to have prayed and might have prayed, but did not pray. 
I shall thank the Lord, who has suffered me not to fall into 
destruction, as I deserved, and henceforth I shall love 
prayer. 



CHAPTEK XVIII. 

PEAYEE OF JESUS CHEIST IN THE GARDEN". 

I. In the height of His overwhelming sorrows, Jesus 
Christ does not yield to feelings of impatience or indigna- 
tion, as we are wont to do when adversity befalls us. He 
has recourse to God by prayer, as had been foretold of Him 
of old in the Scriptures. As God, He does not pray. Be- 
cause, as God, He is in all things equal to His Eternal 
Father and can do whatever He pleases. But He prays as 
Man, who has need of divine help to be supported in his 
human infirmities. He prays, also, as head and guide of 
His Church, to teach us, by His example, that we must 
have recourse to prayer in every distress and necessity, 
especially of the soul. 

Behold, my soul, with what humility and reverence He 
makes His prayer, on His knees, prostrate with His face on 
the earth, as though unworthy to lift it toward Heaven. 
It would appear as if He forgot that He was the Son of 
God. So profoundly does He abase Himself, that, not 
content with humbling Himself to pray as a Man, He 
chooses to be as the least of men. 

Let us consider: If Our Saviour, the Man-God, seeks 
nowhere but in prayer for relief in His anguish, how will 
miserable men like we are presume to think they can bear 
up against tribulation by their own strength without 
prayer? Are we stronger or more constant than He? I 
shall speak for myself, proud, ignorant fool that I am ! Is 
this what Jesus teaches me, — that is, to seek relief by 



118 



PRAYER OF JESUS IN THE GARDEN 



converse with men when overtaken with sadness or sloth? 
Oh, how slow am I to seek help from God in my daily 
necessities when some proud passion disquiets and disturbs 
me ! 

my God ! I am grieved at my want of fidelity in follow- 
ing Thy instructions and imitating Thy example. I ought 
to do nothing night and day but pray with sighs, groans, 
and tears to appease Thy justice, and obtain Thy mercy 
for all the evil I have done and all the good that I have 
left undone. And yet, here I am, cold, frozen, without a 
spark of warmth, without the least zeal for the fulfilling of 
my duties. My Jesus ! grant me, I beseech Thee, a little of 
that holy fervor with which Thou didst make Thy prayer 
to Thy Eternal Father in the garden. Give me, also, some 
of Thy sincere humility that I may acknowledge myself for 
what I am in truth, dust and ashes, in the sight of Thy 
divine Majesty. If, when I pray, I can do nothing but 
humble myself, and again humble myself, it will be no small 
thing, because I know that Thou always hast regard to the 
prayer of the humble. 

As I know not what shall happen to me from one hour 
to another, in the time of prosperity I shall frequently re- 
member God and implore His help, that it may not be 
wanting to me amid the adversities and dangers that per- 
haps are about to come upon me. 

II. The prayer of Jesus Christ in the garden was made 
with humility, as He showed by His attitude, His body 
being prostrate on the earth. It was made with fervor; 
that is, as St. Paul describes it, with great earnestness of 
voice and spirit, together with tears. It was, moreover, 
made with the greatest possible confidence, as may be gath- 
ered from His words: Abba, Father, He says, all things 
are possible to Thee. 1 Oh, if we- could but see His interior, 
with what sentiments of love, respect, and reverence, He 
honors the Divine Majesty in saying these words ! At 
other times, He invoked the Father by the simple name 
Father. Now He calls Him His Father ; for He now stands 

(0 St. Mark xiv, 36. 



PRAYER OF JESUS IN THE GARDEN 



110 



as representative of the body of His faithful people, and 
He teaches us, by example, what He has already taught us 
by word, — that is, to call God our Father when we pray, as 
He, when He prays, calls Him His Father. 

This is a paramount instruction. Jesus Christ does not 
desire that we should any longer call on God with those 
feelings of servile fear which were peculiar to the Old Law, 
but with filial love, which is proper to the New Law. This 
lesson is indispensable. We can not, in truth, pray to God 
at all if we do not hope for a favorable hearing. In order, 
then, that we may pray with confidence and hope, two 
things must be believed. The first is, that God, by His 
goodness, is really Our Father, and, as a true Father, loves 
us. The other is, that God is almighty, and that there is 
nothing that He can not do. These two points of faith are 
sufficient to raise in our heart the most perfect and abiding 
hope. Is there any favor that I may not ask for and also 
hope to gain, knowing, as I do, that my God, being my 
Father, wishes me all the good that He Himself possesses, 
and being almighty, is able to give me every good ? 

most lovely Jesus ! I know that all my happiness, for 
time and eternity, depends upon this one thing. There- 
fore, I come before Thee to implore that, as Thou hast 
taught me the manner in which to pray, Thou woulclst also 
assist me by Thy grace to adopt it. Make me say to the 
Eternal Father, Pater noster, qui es in coelis, with such sin- 
cere humility as may keep me deeply immersed in the centre 
of my nothingness and misery, and with a touching senti- 
ment of cordial affection and profound resignation like unto 
Thine when Thou didst exclaim in the garden, Pater mi, 
my Father ! 

Eternal Father! who art pleased that I also should 
call Thee Father, inspire me with that filial love and rever- 
ence which I owe to Thy Majesty. I am not worthy to be 
loved by Thee, but Thou art most worthy to be loved by me. 
I am a poor sinner, notwithstanding that by the merits of 
Jesus I am Thy child ; yes, Thine own child, although I do 
not conduct myself as a child ought to do; and though I 



120 PRAYER OF JESUS IN THE GARDEN 



am not worthy to be counted among Thy servants, I appeal 
to Thy mercy, which vouchsafes to reckon me Thy child, 
and ask for grace to imitate Thy worthy Child in His holy 
virtues, to Thy glory and my own eternal salvation. 

I shall always remember to exercise in prayer these three 
virtues taught me by Jesus Christ: — humility, fervor of 
spirit, and confidence. If one of them be wanting, my 
prayer will be weak and will not be acceptable to God. 

III. Prayer being an act of the will, which expresses 
some desire to God with a view to its being granted, we 
must say that the prayers of Jesus Christ in the garden 
were two-fold. In the first place, He prays that His Hu- 
manity may be dispensed from drinking the chalice of His 
Passion. This prayer is in conformity with the natural 
desire of sense, which shrinks from suffering. In the sec- 
ond place, He prays that, nevertheless, all may be done 
which seems fit to God; and this prayer is in conformity 
with reason, in submission to the divine will. 

Jesus Christ prays to the Eternal Father, in the first 
place, that He would vouchsafe to deliver Him from His 
Passion now at hand. He prays thus, with the voice of His 
flesh, in behalf of the sensitive appetite, to let us know 
that He is really Man, subject to the weaknesses of nature; 
but immediately after, by an act of most perfect virtue, 
He again prays that the will of God may be done, to teach 
us that we also must pray in this manner. He prays, first, 
in the language of a man under affliction desiring to be de- 
livered from it; that men may learn to pray with the words 
of the Man-God, and may desire nothing but what God 
pleases. wisdom and goodness of our divine Saviour ! 
who humbles Himself so far as to speak the sentiments of 
our heart in order to unite it with the Heart of God. 

Eeflect, my soul ! on this example given Thee by J esus 
Christ. Though we are allowed to make known to God our 
natural necessities and to ask Him for deliverance from the 
troubles of this world, yet to the prayer asking for that 
which sense craves we should always add the other, that all 
may happen according to the will of God. In the Pater 



PRAYER OF JESUS IN THE GARDEN 



121 



noster there is a petition to God for all that regards our 
bodily welfare; but with what disposition do we say these 
three sweet words, Fiat voluntas tuaf 

I utter the wish very often, my God ! that Thy will be 
done; but I utter it with my mouth, not truly with my 
heart, for my attachment to my own will is too strong. I 
would wish Thy will to be done, but I have a greater wish 
that my own will should be done, and when it is not I am 
vexed. If sickness or misfortune overtakes me, although 
this is according to Thy will, it is opposed to mine and 
I do not submit to it. Correct in me this disorder, 
my God ! by giving me light to understand perfectly that, 
however just and right my will may appear to myself, it 
is, at all times, a crooked will, that may deceive and lead 
me astray ; and that Thy will, which is always just, always 
holy, is the only correct rule by which I should be guided 
if I would enjoy true happiness in time and in eternity. 
Thus may it be, and thus it will be, if Thou wilt be pleased 
to strengthen me by Thy grace. 

The only perfection at which I should aim is this: to 
keep the inclinations of sense within me subject to reason, 
and my human reason subject to the will of God. There- 
fore, this shall be the sole object of my care, since this one 
point gained embraces all. 

IV. From the disobedience of Adam proceeded the ruin 
of the world ; — and every sin of ours may be traced to dis- 
obedience, as it is caused by our being more disposed to 
follow the movements of our sensual appetite than the 
Commandments of God. Jesus Christ, consequently, hav- 
ing taken upon Him to reconcile us with God, has most 
wisely, in order to make reparation to the outraged honor 
of the Deity, opposed to the general disobedience His most 
perfect obedience, of which He manifested the most glori- 
ous example in the garden. 

In this place He excites, by His own will, in His sensitive 
appetites, a violent repugnance to pain, to dishonor, and to 
death ; and to show that His sorrow is such that none but 
God can alleviate, He has recourse to God. He represents 



122 PRAYER OF JESUS IN THE GARDEN 



to Him the anguish of His Humanity, to move Him to 
compassion. But as He came into the world to do the will 
of God, not of the flesh, He immediately asks that the will 
of God be done, without regard to the flesh, as if He would 
say : Let nature resist and struggle as it may, it ought to 
obey God, and I choose that it should obey. 

admirable obedience! He distinctly sees what His 
sufferings, in all their variety, are to be, and the sensitive 
appetite, which shrinks from suffering, makes as many acts 
of resistance as there are painful objects before His mind; 
but reason, on the other side, makes as many more acts of 
obedience, renewing in each, with most intense fervor, its 
submission to the Eternal Father, and accepting, one by 
one, all these most bitter pains, with the words, But yet not 
My will, but Thine be done. 1 Let us permit the angels to 
marvel; for ourselves, let us hearken to the example given 
for our imitation. Behold, my soul ! what great repugnance 
Jesus has overcome in His most delicate Humanity for the 
sake of being obedient to God, and reflect on thyself. 

Ah, my God ! in me any slight opposition of my passions 
is sufficient to turn me away from obeying Thy divine 
Majesty; and now looking back on the innumerable occa- 
sions on which I have disobeyed Thee rather than resist my 
sensual inclinations, I grieve and repent of this exceeding 
wickedness, and in satisfaction for the injury I have done 
Thee by my disobedience I offer Thee the most acceptable 
obedience of Thy most beloved Son. 

And turning to Thee also, my most loving Saviour! I 
beseech Thee to impart to me Thy spirit, to enable me to 
make a perfect prayer like Thine. Thou didst not occupy 
Thyself in the garden with making a dry meditation with 
Thy understanding on Thy approaching Passion ; but Thou 
didst come to practical acts of Thy will, accepting Thy 
Passion with affectionate obedience. This is what I should 
do. But, alas, how tepid, cold and languishing is my 
prayer ! Stir up, I implore Thee, my weak will, to effica- 

(0 St. Luke xxil 42. 



PRAYER OF JESUS IN THE GARDEN 



123 



cious resolutions of imitating Thee in the practice of all 
virtues, but especially in obedience to the will of God. 

I shall accustom myself to the use of this prayer : Grant, 
my God! that Thy holy will may be always done in me. 
Make me know the things that please Thee, and give me 
grace to do them. Moreover I shall, as occasions offer, do 
violence to my will. 

V. All that Jesus Christ has done for the salvation of 
the world He did as Man-God, because He could not, as 
Man only, or as God only, have been a mediator capable of 
reconciling us with God. As Man-God He humbled Him- 
self, He prayed, He obeyed. And we must remark a 
superior excellence in His obedience. It is not true that 
the Eternal Father obliged this Man-God to suffer and die. 
It was He who, of His own will, spontaneously offered Him- 
self for the salvation of the world; for the 'sole motive that 
He knew the Eternal Father was pleased that He should 
do so. 

A good son, who wishes to honor his father, acts in like 
manner. It is enough for him to know what his father 
wishes. The inclinations of His father he looks upon as 
commands, which move him to obedience, and that of a 
kind so much the more noble as it is more free and com- 
plete. It is thus, precisely, that Jesus Christ has acted. 
He knew the more He should suffer for our salvation the 
more satisfaction, honor, and pleasure He would render 
to the Eternal Father. And from the most ardent love that 
He entertained for His Father and for us He straightway 
undertakes to suffer, voluntarily, as much as His Humanity 
may be capable of suffering. Oh, what obedience ! What 
an example ! What a spectacle of confusion to me ! 

How many things there are which I am convinced would 
be agreeable to God if I did them for His love. I know 
that by the practice of humility, of patience, and of so 
many other virtues, I should please God. But the thought 
of pleasing God scarcely moves me. Nay more, I feel a 
reluctance to fulfil even those things that are commanded 
me. In short, the tenor of my life is such that I satisfy 



124 PRAYER OF JESUS IN THE GARDEN 

myself with not doing good, and take no pains to do good. 
In those points of duty to which I do not see myself evi- 
dently obliged, I take advantage of my liberty to gratify my 
passions rather than God, and my inclinations always lead 
me to favor concupiscence, by indulging in vanity, rather 
than conscience, by adhering to and loving truth. 

What an abuse, rny God, do I make of Thy precious 
example! It was not of precept for Thee to suffer or to 
die, and yet Thou didst accept suffering and death simply 
to give pleasure to Thy Father and to honor Him by Thy 
obedience. I ought also to do the same. As, then, Thou 
hast, of Thy bounty, imparted to me Thy merits, so like- 
wise, I beseech Thee, impart to me the sentiments of Thy 
Heart that it may be my pleasure to obey Thee for the 
simple object of giving Thee pleasure. Make me know 
how and in what I may please Thee, and incline me power- 
fully to seek in all things not my own gratification but 
Thine. 

I shall obey the inspirations given me to do good, and 
the satisfaction of pleasing God shall be sufficient to ani- 
mate me to this obedience without weighing so accurately 
whether the tiling be of precept or of counsel. 

VI. Jesus Christ prayed three times during this last 
night, and His prayer continued not less than an hour. It 
is probable, therefore, that after recommending His Hu- 
manity to His Eternal Father, and resigning Himself to 
His holy will, as He accepted His Passion for us all, that 
He prayed for all. 

As He takes a detailed view of each part of His Passion, 
He sees that it is a fountain whence shall flow forth upon 
us all the graces necessary for our eternal salvation. But 
as He also sees that many of these graces, merited by His 
Passion, have, moreover, according to the divine oracles, to 
be asked and obtained for us by Himself, we may imagine 
that as He resigns Himself in detail to the suffering of the 
scourging, of ignominies, of the thorns, and of the cross, so 
likewise He offers all for us to His Father, with prayers 
and supplications, with cries and tears ; and that the Father, 



PRAYER OF JE8V8 IN THE GARDEN 125 



being honored by the dignity and humility of His beloved 
Son, grants all that He asks. It is true He does not accept 
His prayer to be delivered from His sufferings, as this was 
the desire of sense; but if He does not accept this prayer 
it is because it is proper that it should not be accepted, and 
because He Himself prays that in this He may not be heard. 
Meanwhile, it is of truth, that all that He asks for besides 
this is granted. 

Eeflect, now, my soul, how great are thy obligations to 
thy Redeemer. Faith, hope, charity, the fruits of the Sac- 
raments, the gifts of the Holy Ghost, the inspirations, the 
graces, all the special helps that are given thee to obtain 
eternal bliss, — all these are the effects and fruits proceed- 
ing from the Passion and the prayer of Jesus Christ. He 
has merited, in general, for all. But all His merits are, in 
particular, for thee in such a way as though He had suffered 
and prayed and merited for no one else but for thee alone. 
As if, in short, thou alone hadst been in the world. 

my good Jesus! I thank Thee with my whole heart, and 
I am sorry that I have so often abused Thy merits by not 
cooperating with them as I am bound to do. Remember, I 
entreat Thee, that among the innumerable graces that Thou 
hast merited for me, this is one, namely: — the grace to 
imitate the example of Thy life, but especially of Thy holy 
Passion. This is the grace which I humbly pray that Thou 
wilt not deny me. Do not permit that the fruit of Thy 
most fervent prayers should be lost. If it should be lost, I 
am convinced that the fault will be my own. Remove far 
from me this evil, which would be insupportable, irre- 
mediable, and eternal. It is Thy will that I should be 
saved. Therefore, let this will of Thine be effectually 
carried out. 

1 shall rest every prayer that I make on the merits of the 
Passion of Jesus Christ, and unite it with the prayer of 
Jesus Christ. Thus I shall have no doubt of obtaining 
whatever I ask, through Jesus Christ, in the manner most 
expedient for me. 



126 A. CONSOLING ANGEL APPEARS TO JESUS 



CHAPTER XIX. 

A CONDOLING ANGEL APPEARS TO JESUS. 

I. The prayer of Jesus Christ in the garden was hum- 
ble, fervent, and full of confidence; but it was also perse- 
vering. A lesson for us not to become weary in praying to 
God, since by perseverance we shall obtain that which other 
virtues, without it, will not ensure to us. The blessed Jesus 
prays once, and a second time, with His eyes lifted up to 
Heaven, that if the human race can be saved without His 
dying on the cross it may thus be saved. Nature, too, 
vehemently shrinks from such a death. But He has not a 
glimmer of light to assure Him that His prayer is heard, 
as though in His regard Heaven were made of brass. 

Consequently His distress increases, His mind being 
overwhelmed with mortal sadness, in total abandonment, 
left to its own natural force. Whither can He turn for re- 
lief? If He looks back to the Apostles, He finds them 
asleep ; if He has recourse to His Father, His Father who 
has always heard Him when He prayed for others, now 
that He prays for Himself seems to consider Him as un- 
worthy of notice, viewing in Him only the clay of Adam. 
What a torment is it for human nature, in a state of aban- 
donment, to represent to itself the Almighty as become 
cruel toward it; to feel itself deluged with bitterness by 
the hand from which it expects sweetness! Nevertheless, 
Jesus shows no impatience nor vexation. He prays for the 
third time. When, behold! an angel immediately appears 
to Him from Heaven to strengthen Him. 

Thus God deals with those who, groaning under affliction, 
do not become weary of having recourse to Him for help by 
prayer. He infallibly consoles, He blesses them with His 
favors, in the manner and at the time most to their advan- 
tage. Thus would He also act toward me if I did not allow 
myself to become lukewarm. When I ask for a grace from 
God, whether it be humility, or charity, or the love of 
chastity, or any other, I desire to have it quickly granted. 
If the answer is delayed I lose confidence and am disturbed, 



A CONSOLING ANGEL APPEARS TO JESUS 127 

and have no longer courage to continue praying. Oh, what 
presumption ! J esus Christ, who has every possible right to 
expect to be heard the first time, receives no consolation 
till the third. And I, a miserable sinner, do I fancy that 
I need but open my mouth to ask for a grace and imme- 
diately it will be given me ? 

Correct, most patient Saviour ! my bold, inconsiderate 
conceit. Make me learn perseverance from Thy example. 
I deserve chastisements and not graces. If it pleases Thee 
to give me graces, it will be of Thy free mercy alone. Who 
am I that I should prescribe laws for Thy mercy? The 
poor beggar that knocks at the door of Thy bounty must 
have patience. 

I shall strive to be humble, because whoever is humble 
considers himself unworthy to be heard. He never grows 
weary, because his hopes being based entirely and always on 
the divine Goodness, He never loses confidence. Perse- 
verance is the daughter of humility. 

II. We know not what the angel said to Jesus Christ, 
since it is not recorded in the Gospel ; but as we know that 
he appeared to Him in order to strengthen Him, we must 
believe that the message that he brought was calculated to 
encourage Him. The tradition of the Church usually rep- 
resents this angel in the act of presenting a chalice to the 
Saviour. By the chalice must be understood His Passion, 
according to the usual mode of expression. Therefore, 
it is probable that the heavenly messenger, in the first 
place, represents to Him on the part of His Eternal Father 
that mankind can not be saved, according to the decree 
already passed, except by means of His Passion. Secondly, 
to encourage Him to suffer, we may suppose that He re- 
minds Him that if His Passion is painful it will be pro- 
portionably fruitful. 

What a satisfaction must it be to Jesus Christ to behold 
millions and millions of souls who, being now in a state of 
damnation, will through the outpouring of His most 
precious Blood be saved! With what vigor also may we 
suppose He is inspired on hearing that after three days He 



128 A. CONSOLING ANGEL APPEARS TO JESUS 



shall rise again triumphant over sin and hell, and that His 
sufferings shall pass away and be followed by eternal glory. 

I experience comfort in Thy consolations, most sweet 
Saviour ! though they were but momentary. Ah ! and am 
I to hope that among the souls that Thou didst see who 
should be saved in consequence of Thy Kedemption, my soul 
was numbered? Yes, yes; I shall hope that it may be so. 
I hope through Thy merits. However, I know well that in 
order to be saved I must labor and suffer. But shall I not 
also find that comfort which Thou didst find in the garden 
when Thou didst willingly accept Thy Passion for the 
salvation of others, by undertaking willingly to suffer for 
the salvation of my own soul ? How can that chalice be dis- 
tasteful to me of which Thou Thyself hast first drunk ? 

Most loving Jesus ! who wast consoled by an angel for 
my sake rather than for Thy own, grant me an ardent de- 
sire of my eternal salvation, and that suffices. For what can 
be difficult in the Christian life for one who earnestly de- 
sires to save his soul ? Suppose the practice of virtue accom- 
panied with the greatest trouble, and the observance of the 
divine counsels and commandments as difficult as you 
please — suppose all this : yet, does it not all become as easy 
and sweet as it appeared hard when I reflect that I shall go 
to Paradise, and that in that blessed country my happiness 
will be eternal ? However heavy may be the crosses of this 
world, is it not a powerful encouragement for any one who 
bears them for the love of God to know that all passes away 
here below, and that above the glory will be eternal ? But 
the greatest inducement that I can have to do violence to 
myself, my Jesus ! is Thy example. 

An angel came to encourage J esus, but it is Jesus Him- 
self who comes to encourage me with the promise of eternal 
life if I am faithful in following His example. I shall 
renew my acts of hope. 

III. Jesus Christ knew all that was to be said to Him 
by the angel, and the Man-God had no need of being in- 
structed or encouraged by an angel, as He was the sovereign 
Lord of the angels. Being God, He is capable of consoling 



A CON SO LIN a ANGEL APPEARS TO JESUS 129 



Himself, but He does not wish to receive interior assistance 
from His Divinity; and, as though He were no more than 
man inferior to the angels, He is pleased that an angel 
should come to Him, that He may humble Himself the 
more by being in want of the help of His servants. When 
He was in the desert, angels ministered to Him as God. 
Now an angel comes to encourage Him as Man, to support 
the infirmities of man. 

Oh, what a school of astounding humility is here pre- 
sented to my gaze ! The angel sent by the Eternal Father 
humbles himself and speaks to Jesus Christ with profound 
reverence and adoration. Jesus Christ, on His side, hum- 
bles Himself and receives the words of the angel as words 
of God, with reverential submission. The angel humbles 
himself to the Man-God. The Man-God humbles Himself 
to the angel. Will this marvelous humility be of no advan- 
tage for the cure of my pride and haughtiness ? 

If an angel, who in consideration of the ministry com- 
mitted to him must be one of the most exalted order, speaks 
with such humility to Jesus Christ, with what humility 
ought I, a miserable creature, to speak to Him when I 
present myself before Him to meditate on His sacred Pas- 
sion? Eemembering what I am as to my body, which is a 
vile worm, and to become the food of worms, and as to my 
soul, an abominable sink of wickedness and iniquity, I 
should tremble with reverence and be amazed to think how 
this Man-God, kind and indulgent as He is, can endure me 
in His sight. And yet how do I appear before Him, 
whether in regard to my interior recollection or my exterior 
attitude ? 

Again, if J esus Christ, who is greater than all the angels, 
humbles Himself to an angel with such docility and rever- 
ence as though He was inferior to him in greatness and 
dignity, with what humility ought I to conduct myself to- 
ward my neighbors, esteeming myself most vile and abject, 
as there is no one more ungrateful to the divine Majesty 
than I? And yet, how contemptuous am I to my in- 



130 4 CONSOLING ANGEL APPEARS TO JESUS 

feriors, how haughty with my equals, how insolent to my 
superiors ! 

Oh, how odious and insupportable to all is my pride ! 
How disgusted must my humble guardian angel be with 
me, beholding me so proud ! Dear angel, whom the mercy 
of God has given me for helper, have pity on me; inspire 
me with sentiments of humility like thine, and through 
the humility of Jesus obtain for me this virtue so essential 
from the great God, the exalter of the humble. 

I shall be devout to my angel guardian for this reason 
also, because he continually gives me lessons of humility by 
his example; since he does not refuse to watch day and 
night over a creature so miserable as I am. 

IV. To the consideration of the chalice, full of bitterness 
and pains, of Jesus Christ, which is presented to Him by 
the angel and received by Him with most perfect con- 
formity to His Father's will, we are taught by the divine 
oracles to join the consideration of another chalice which is 
placed before us by the world. A chalice that natters the 
senses and fascinates the soul with apparent sweetness, and 
then drives it on to the excess of vice and exposes it to the 
wrath of God. 

Throughout this wretched life we are at liberty to choose 
between the chalice of Jesus Christ — that is, carrying our 
cross for His love, and the chalice of the world — that is, to 
spend pleasant days, as they are called, in sinful amuse- 
ments. He who chooses the chalice of Jesus Christ, al- 
though he may in times past have been a great sinner, will 
be justified and saved and will be inebriated with the flood 
of eternal bliss in heaven. He who chooses that of the 
world will be damned, and will drink in hell of that bitter 
cup of woe which the damned drink forever and which is 
never drained. 

Which of these two chalices dost thou prefer, my soul ? 
The chalice of the world, as thou knowest, seems sweet to 
him that tastes it from the indulgence that it gives to the 
passions; but it is deceitful, uncertain, and evanescent, 
leaving nothing after it but stifling remorse and sorrow. 



AGONY OF JESUS IN THE GARDEN 



131 



The chalice of Jesus Christ thou knowest also and thou 
hast experienced that it seems bitter, but in reality it is 
sweet ; for what satisfaction, what joy, is the portion of him 
who serves God from his heart ! Therefore, does the choice 
require thought and consultation? Why do we still wait? 

Ah, my Jesus, my God! I renounce the world, and I 
pray Thee to let its alluring chalice pass from me : Transeat 
a me calix iste, 1 that I may not even have the slightest 
recollection of its bitter sweets. Thy chalice I love, I long 
for, I choose. By drinking of that chalice, Thou hast be- 
come to me so lovely. This is the chalice that Thou dost 
offer me and which I accept : the painful chalice of penance, 
the laborious chalice of patience, the chalice full of love, of 
holy charity. my God ! make me worthy of it by making 
it dearer to me than all the treasures of the world. Too 
late have I known its value, and yet I am Thine in time. 
chalice of Jesus, chalice of salvation, how sweet, how good- 
ly, art thou in my eyes! If for no other reason, my 
Jesus ! I accept it willingly in thanksgiving to Thee for 
having so willingly drunk it for love of me. I am still a 
sinner of the earth. let me taste of Thy mercies that I 
may not become a sinner of hell, where there is no forgive- 
ness. 

I shall detest my past life, by which I have so often de- 
served hell, and I shall renew my purpose of persevering in 
a devout life, after the example of J esus Christ. 



CHAPTEE XX. 

AGONY OF JESUS CHEIST IN THE GARDEN. 

I. The Passion of Jesus Christ is full of miracles. 
This is also a miracle, that He received comfort from the 
heavenly messenger without His interior sadness being in 
the least alleviated. Nay, this very comfort helped rather 
to increase it. In meditation we may form pious conjec- 

0) St. Matt, xxvi, 39. 



132 AGONY OF JESUS IN THE GARDEN 



tures of the nature of this comfort, but it is not exactly 
known. This only do we know, that immediately after re- 
ceiving the comfort Jesus Christ fell into an agony ; since, 
in the Gospel, the agony is mentioned directly after the 
comfort. 

When it is said that He was in an agony we must under- 
stand that He was literally reduced to the distressing, 
pitiable condition of those persons who sigh and suffer most 
severely in the agonies of death. We must further believe 
that His agony was an effect of nothing but His most 
ardent charity. He had declared that He would willingly 
die to give life to the world by His death. And as He 
knows that He can die but once, He chooses, at least, to 
suffer twice the agonies of death — once by causing them of 
His own accord in Himself, as now, in advance of the time 
in which they are to be forced upon Him by the Jews on 
Calvary. The impiety of His executioners will have a share 
in the agony that Jesus Christ has to suffer on the cross. 
His agony in the garden is an outcome of His charity alone. 
This it is that, strong as death, fortifies His Heart in that 
conflict with sense, and in spite of sense makes Him long to 
die for us upon the cross. In the act of obediently accept- 
ing the chalice of His Passion and death He suddenly falls 
fainting to the ground in mortal agony. 

most loving, most lovely Saviour ! why thus, of Thine 
own accord, dost Thou anticipate this painful agony? If 
Thou desirest my salvation will not that Passion so near 
at hand suffice ? Ah ! yes. What Thou art soon to suffer 
will be more than enough for me. But to satisfy the 
depth of Thy love is not enough for Thee. the love, 
the mercy, the kindness and charity of Jesus, who plunges 
into such excesses merely from compassion for my miserable 
soul ! Permit not, Lord, that I should be ungrateful to 
Thy love. I know that ingratitude is, beyond measure, 
hateful to Thee. Therefore, that I may not be ungrateful 
to Thee, I thank Thee for that most bitter Passion which 
Thou didst suffer in the garden for me to deliver me from 
eternal death. Yes, I thank Thee, and marveling at Thy 



AGONY OF JESUS IN THE GARDEN 133 

goodness, which condescends to suffer so much for me, I 
compassionate Thee, and in compassion for Thee I offer 
Thee that compassion which Thou hast had for me. 

It is proper that I should admire, return thanks, and 
compassionate; but I ought also to suffer, mortifying my- 
self in something for love of Jesus Christ, who was pleased 
to suffer so much for love of me. He requires that we 
should imitate Him. 

II. It being decreed that none will be crowned who do 
not fight, J esus Christ, as it were, undertakes a war for us. 
His agony is nothing else than a battle in which nature and 
sense make their final and greatest efforts to struggle with 
and resist death. At the moment that the angel presents to 
Him the chalice of the Passion, death also comes before 
Him in a form the most horrible and terrifying that may be 
imagined. He sees at that very time that His enemies, led 
by Judas, are leaving the city and coming armed in search 
of Him, to bind Him and carry Him off to take away His 
life. This apprehension becomes so intense and strong that 
it penetrates Him through and through, and with most 
poignant anguish conducts Him to the verge of death. 

The will of Jesus Christ consents to die for the glory of 
God and the salvation of souls; but His physical powers 
having the most violent repugnance to dying, so fierce a 
conflict arises within Him that the convulsions and vehe- 
mence of the insupportable anguish cast Him into an agony. 
He does not receive from His Divinity, nor from His 
human reason, the least help to bear Him up against it. 
All is thus ordered by His own voluntary choice, that man 
in Him should suffer, in his own unassisted substance, as 
man. Therefore, no one can be excused from imitating 
Him by saying that He, being God, could not suffer or be 
in pain no matter how ardently He might desire it. 

In meditating on this agony reflect well, my soul, that 
Jesus Christ ordained that His sensitive powers should re- 
sist to an extreme degree so that their pain might be ex- 
treme when forced to obey the divine will. And how do we 
act when sense rebels against the will of God? Ah, my 



134 AGONY OF JESUS IN THE GARDEN 



God ! how readily do I yield to its rebellions ! I know that 
I ought to resist, but I do not. I take such jealous care of 
my reputation and health that when an occasion for morti- 
fication appears I am easily overcome by the fear of one 
thing or another's doing me some injury. This excessive 
tenderness springs from my sloth and overweening self-love. 
Then concupiscence begins to claim notice. And, as I 
never resolutely undertake to conquer, it generally happens 
that I am miserably defeated. 

my Jesus! Thou beholdest my unhappy weakness. 
Arm me, I implore Thee, with Thy strength with which 
Thou didst fight so valiantly in the garden. Thou hast 
merited this grace for me by Thy agony, and Thou knowest 
well that I shall never obey or serve Thee unless Thou dost 
make me strong by Thy help. 

1 shall resolve to combat my fear of dying soon, my ap- 
prehension of being ill, of being humbled, or despised. 
Moreover, I shall constrain myself to overcome the repug- 
nances of my senses, in imitation of Jesus Christ. 

III. To understand the causes whence arose the agony 
of Jesus Christ we must consider that His thoughts were 
the instruments that produced it. The fear of loss of life 
is naturally painful to all, but its anguish is aggravated 
when the light of reason assists the instinct of nature. 
Jesus Christ beholds with most vivid clearness the value 
of His own life, which is no ordinary life, but one which, 
by its union with the Divinity, is worthy of love, honor, 
and esteem beyond all the lives in the world. He knows 
that His corporal life is more precious than the life of the 
angels, because of the exceeding glory that it every moment 
renders to God. Although He knows that it is a great 
good to sacrifice it in order to deliver souls from sin, yet 
He also knows that His life is a greater good than is the 
evil of all the sins of the world. The heavens are not so 
far removed from the earth as His life is elevated above 
ours. 

By how much the more, then, His life deserves to be 
loved, so much the greater is the ardor with which He loves 



AGONY OF JESUS IN TEE GARDEN 



135 



it, through motives natural and supernatural of the most 
sinless perfection. Wherefore, as He loves His own life 
with an exceeding love, He must experience a most intense 
sorrow at being obliged to deliver it into the hands of His 
enemies. It is this sorrow that brings Him to the brink of 
death, and on account of which any other man less strong 
than He would have infallibly died. 

Behold, my soul, how dear thou art to J esus Christ ! His 
own life is dear, most dear to Him; but dearer to Him is 
thy salvation, since to save thee He accepts death. Behold, 
again, an example most worthy of being imitated by me in 
cooperating with my own salvation. Jesus Christ has a 
thousand motives to love and to preserve His most precious 
existence. Nevertheless, as it is the will of His Father that 
He should die to deliver me from eternal death, no motive 
can withhold Him from obedience. For the sake of obe- 
dience He reckons His life as nothing, as if it were the most 
worthless life in the world. 

In like manner should we act. There is no reason that 
should have power to prevent our obeying God. Health 
may be precious, life may be precious, all that we have in 
the world may be precious, but still more precious must we 
consider obedience to the will of God. Have I, in times 
past, been guided by this maxim? No; and I am grieved 
to confess it, my God ! I humbly implore Thy grace that, 
for the future, Thy most holy will may at all costs be done 
by me. Were I to give my life for Thee I should give little 
more than nothing in proportion to what I owe Thee. 

Spending and losing my life in the service of God should 
be the object not of my fears, but of my desires. How 
many persons in the world devote their lives to sin and 
worldly interest ! 

IV. To Jesus Christ it is a grievous affliction, for rea- 
sons that we have remarked, to be forced to lose His most 
precious life; but to aggravate this affliction, another 
consideration must be mentioned — His innocence. A 
malefactor about to suffer death is indeed troubled, as a 
man must be at the apprehension of death; but yet he 



136 



AGONY OF JESUS IN THE GARDEN 



tranquillizes and consoles himself by what his conscience 
tells him — that death is justly due him for his crimes. 
~Not so is it with an innocent person. So much the more 
reason has he to complain as he sees that his death is un- 
deserved. From this viewpoint, how afflicting and grievous 
then must have been to Jesus the apprehension of death, 
considering His spotless innocence. 

In fact, He knows that He has to die not for His own 
sins but for those of others, for whom He has voluntarily 
bound Himself as a surety to make satisfaction to the 
divine justice. But what consolation is there to be found 
in this ? An actual debtor, when obliged to pay, makes up 
his mind to do so, saying to himself, / incurred the debt; 
it is but fair that I should pay it. But a surety finds it 
very hard to say, Others have incurred the debt, and I must 
pay it. ISTow this is precisely what increases the bitter- 
ness of the sorrow that Jesus naturally feels — that He has 
committed no sin, and is obliged to satisfy by His death for 
the sins of others. To make this reflection still more poig- 
nant, He views His death not as chosen by Himself through 
charity, but in the light of being owed by Him to the 
divine justice. 

Contemplate, my soul ! thy Lord Jesus Christ prostrate 
on the earth, unable now to draw His breath, except at in- 
tervals, as do persons in their agony when death approaches. 
His sorrow is at the highest point, beyond which sorrow in 
this world can not go. If, then, nature itself cries out as 
wronged when sympathy is refused to a poor sufferer who 
is proved innocent of that for which he suffers, what must 
be said of me if I do not sympathize with my most innocent 
Saviour in the condition in which I now behold Him ? He 
complains more than all of this, that there is no one to 
show Him any sympathy. How then is it that my soul is so 
insensible, my heart so hardened, that on an occasion of 
this kind I have not one tear nor one sigh of compassion? 
Jesus! I implore Thee to pardon my ignorance, my in- 
sensibility, my ingratitude. Tenderness of heart is Thy 
gift which I may desire, but can not of myself possess. I 



AGONY OF JESUS IN THE GARDEN 



137 



grieve that I have deserved, on account of my wickedness, 
to be deprived of this gift; and by way of sympathy with 
Thee I offer Thee those painful sighs that Thou didst 
breathe out for me in Thy most bitter Passion, 

Since I can not imitate Jesus by suffering as an innocent 
victim, I shall strive to resemble Him somewhat by suffer- 
ing as a penitent. I know that I have contracted debts, and 
I must pay for them as best I may. 

V. What throws Jesus Christ into an agony is not so 
much the thought that He must die as that He must die 
upon a cross. This was a kind of death looked upon in 
those days as the most execrable and most to be dreaded of 
all deaths, as it was wont to be inflicted only upon the most 
notorious malefactors. A prince about to be beheaded by 
his enemies can summon up courage to undergo death be- 
comingly ; but if he has to be hanged on an infamous gibbet, 
the apprehension of this disgrace is, in the last degree, tor- 
menting to him. Thus Jesus Christ has to make two im- 
mense efforts of violence to Himself. One, to resign Him- 
self to death in obedience; the other, to the death of the 
cross. Now it is on account of these efforts to His Human- 
ity to overcome the repugnances of sense that He is thrown 
into a mortal agony. 

The Passion of Jesus Christ is voluntary, and what is 
willingly suffered is considered not to inflict so much pain. 
But is it true that a sick man, because he consents to be 
burned and cut, feels therefore less acutely the pain of the 
hot iron and of the knife ? Jesus Christ suffers because He 
chooses to suffer. Yes. But His senses are not, on that 
account, benumbed. No; for the very reason that He 
chooses to suffer He suffers more, because He Himself ex- 
cites His own apprehensions to the highest degree of in- 
tensity; He awakens His sense to feel His afflictions with 
the utmost acuteness; in order that His fortitude may be 
seen in the greatest possible perfection, as an example for 
us, and that the Redemption of mankind and the satisfac- 
tion made to the divine justice may be superabundant. 

If I could probe Thy Heart, my Saviour ! methinks I 



138 



AGOXT OF JESUS IX THT GARDEN 



should see there portrayed in minute detail the whole of 
Thy Passion. The Jews had nothing to do with that por- 
tion of it that Thou didst suffer in Thy soul. It is I myself 
who here have more than all others to answer for on account 
of my manifold and grievous sins. In truth, it is I who 
have crucified Thee and caused these convulsions and this 
agony in Thy tender Heart. That Heart all on fire with 
love for me, and to which I owe an infinite debt of gratitude. 

Most loving, most lovely Heart of Jesus ! I beg pardon 
for my iniquities and I acknowledge that I am profoundly 
grieved for having contributed to the bitter agony of Thy 
soul ; — I, who above all am bound to love Thee. Behold me 
now desirous to love Thee: and I do love Thee. If Thou 
dost wish that I should love Thee more, give me all that 
love which Thou dost desire me to have. I know not if 
my love amounts to what Thy commandment requires. 
Therefore, I implore Thy assistance to love Thee to such 
a degree that I may be obedient in all things to Thee until 
the end of my life. I know not of what disease, or what 
manner of death, I shall die. I resign myself to whatever 
kind of death it may be ; and I shall pray to God for noth- 
ing but the favor of living and dying in His grace and in 
His love. 

VI. All manner of evils entered into the world by the 
disobedience of Adam, and Jesus Christ desired by His 
obedience to repair them as far as possible. The most 
terrible of evils in the order of nature is death. It was not 
ordained by God, but came into the world on account of 
sin. Our agony, then, is to be overwhelmed with sorrow by 
reason of our sins: Jesus suffered an agony in the garden 
and voluntarily endured this affliction, which of necessity 
we must undergo. He did this, in the first place, that He 
might show us by His example how we also must overcome 
the fear of death by resignation to the will of God. More- 
over, that He might merit for us in our agony a mitigation 
of the anguish that will accompany it. and in order to teach 
us that no kind of death, be it violent or natural, should 
affright us if we live as Christians ought to live. 



AGONY OF JESUS IN THE GARDEN 139 

Let us seriously reflect on the agony of J esus Christ. In 
His person He represents to me that anguish, those terrors, 
that I shall also experience at the approach of death. In 
that last hour of my life nature within me will be con- 
vulsed and in disorder, because the tie that unites my spirit 
and my flesh is about to be broken, and my soul will be 
overwhelmed with fear at having shortly to appear before 
the tribunal of God and to enter on an eternity that will 
never change. What will then be my distress on feeling 
myself penetrated through and through by such a load of 
remorse for the past, and encompassed with such dangers 
for the future ? 

My soul, dost thou desire to find help and consolation in 
thy last conflict? Let us trust in the merits of Jesus 
Christ, and at the same time let us endeavor to follow His 
example. He anticipates that last agony which He is about 
to suffer on Calvary by a violent dread of it. Let us also 
anticipate and dread our last agony. Let us often think of 
it, let us imagine ourselves actually in our agony, and let 
us now produce the thoughts which we shall then have, in 
order that our last agony may not come upon us unawares, 
but may find us prepared. The agony of that man is an 
unhappy one on whom it comes without his having thought 
of it; but it will be a time of happiness for one who has 
prepared himself for the struggle. 

my Lord J esus Christ ! I pray Thee to awaken within 
me those thoughts that may be most profitable as a prepara- 
tion for death. By the merits of Thy agony in the garden 
have pity on me, deliver me from an unprovided death — 
that is, from dying without being prepared for death. It 
matters not what manner of death it may be, if only it is 
not unprovided. What I have to fear is not death, but a 
bad death. 



140 JESUS SWEATS BLOOD IN THE GARDEN 



CHAPTER XXI. 

JESUS CHRIST SWEATS BLOOD IN THE GARDEN. 

I. Our body is so constituted that it sweats whenever 
the heart is oppressed either by grievous fear or by any 
other violent emotion. Therefore, Jesus Christ having ex- 
cited in His imagination a strong forecast of His approach- 
ing Passion and death, His Heart within His breast is 
contracted and oppressed with fear, dread and horror. His 
sensitive faculties would fain not suffer : but as His reason 
wills that He should suffer in obedience to God, the latter 
prevails in the conflict and His sensitiveness is crushed 
with extreme violence. 

Hence, Jesus Christ in the garden sweats ; and His sweat 
becomes blood, that issues from every pore of His body in 
place of ordinary sweat. Fear has driven His blood to the 
vicinity of His Heart ; and that last effort which He makes 
to overcome His fear forces it back with such violence that 
it even trickles down upon the ground in large drops. 
This bloody sweat, then, is not an effect of timidity or 
weakness, but of the intrepid fortitude with which reason 
has vanquished the sensitive appetite. However, this ex- 
traordinary affection is not to be regarded as the result of 
natural causes, but simply of His own will. Jesus Christ 
wills that His Humanity should suffer to the full extent 
of what it is capable of suffering, and for this end He wills 
that it should suffer to the extent of sweating real blood. 

my soul ! contemplate thy Lord bathed in His blood. 
This blood has not been drawn from His veins by dint of 
scourging, thorns and nails. ~No; it is blood which He 
Himself has forced from His Heart as an evidence of the 
violence of His immense love and of the reality of His in- 
terior grief. In this state thy most sorrowful Lord turns to 
thee and says, Behold, thou soul ! has any one ever sweated 
blood as I have done? No, nor has any sorrow been like 
unto Mine. 

my sweet Jesus, how deeply do I compassionate Thee 
in Thy anguish, that needs must have been extreme to 



JESUS SWEATS BLOOD IN THE GARDEN 141 

cause the shedding of all this blood! I thank Thee for 
this blood, the first that Thou hast shed from Thy veins and 
which Thou hast shed and poured out as a plentiful Be- 
demption for me. What shall I give Thee in return for 
Thy love ? I confess that I am unworthy of it, but permit 
not, I beseech Thee, that I should ever be ungrateful for it. 
Give me grace to return Thee thanks in proportion to what 
I owe Thee for so loving and so painful a Passion. En- 
grave the thought of it on my unfeeling heart that I may 
remember it, in order to compassionate and to imitate it. 
Ah, my J esus ! who dost shed so much blood for me, incline 
my hard heart to shed a few tears for Thee. 

After the example of Jesus Christ, I shall renounce all 
that is contrary to the divine Will. How have I hitherto 
resisted my passions? Oh, how far am I from sweating 
blood by -doing violence to myself ! 

II. There were two most bitter ingredients in the chalice 
presented by th.e angel to J esus Christ. One was composed 
of the evils of pain that He had to suffer in the Passion. 
The other of the evil of sin, for which He was to make 
satisfaction as surety to the divine justice for the entire 
human race. Therefore, we must be far from supposing 
that He sweats blood simply from the apprehension of those 
most tormenting pains which He foresees He is about to 
suffer. The cause is greater in an incomparable degree. 
It is the innumerable, most foul, and most grievous sins 
for which He is about to expiate and to make satisfac- 
tion, and for which, by the divine decree, satisfaction 
can not be made except by the shedding of His most 
precious blood. His sweating blood for the evil of pain 
arises from the act of resignation with which He forces His 
sensitive appetite to obedience. His sweating blood for the 
evil of sin is the effect of His interior sorrow, which purges 
away iniquity and satisfies the divine Majesty. 

The blessed Jesus, finding Himself loaded with the sins 
of the whole world, experiences in His Heart such horror 
from the excessive hatred that He has for every offence 
against God that blood issues from every part of His body 



142 JE8U8 SWEATS BLOOD IN THE GARDEN 



so as to cover the ground. Sweat was given to man as a 
punishment for Adam's sin ; and J esus Christ, undergoing 
penance for sin, offers His sweat mingled with blood and 
tears to His Eternal Father. His sorrow reaches the high- 
est possible point, — so that we may justly say that He 
weeps for our sins with tears of blood from as many eyes as 
there are pores in His body. 

Consider attentively, my soul, how great an evil sin 
must be, since it is for sin that the Son of God made Man 
is in agony and sweats blood. most tender J esus ! who 
art become all eyes to weep for my sins with such pain and 
bitterness, I implore Thee, by those drops of sweat which 
are so many tears of living blood, soften my hard heart 
that by reflecting on my sins, which are enormous both in 
number and kind, comprising every character of iniquity, I 
may shed some tears of compunction and contrition. 

my God ! I am grieved for all the evil that I have done ; 
and since I, also, on my part, must make satisfaction for 
it as far as I am able, what is the satisfaction that I 
shall offer to Thy justice? I know that Thou wilt never 
reject a contrite and humble heart; make, then, my heart 
contrite and humble, and what I shall thus have received 
from Thee as a gift I will offer to Thee as a sacrifice. I 
do not see how I can glorify Thee more than by contrition 
of heart. This, therefore, is what I ask as a grace from Thy 
infinite goodness, I myself being indeed possessed of every 
means to offend, but of none worthily to honor Thee. 

1 shall make frequent acts of contrition, uniting my 
feeble acts with the powerful acts of Jesus Christ, so that 
God may accept them in expiation for my sins. 

III. It is highly calculated to excite our sorrow to take 
a general view of all the sins that we have committed 
throughout the whole course of our life ; and the more per- 
fectly we realize that the God whom we have offended is 
worthy of our infinite love, the more bitter will our sorrow 
be. What, then, must have been the sorrow of Jesus 
Christ in the garden, viewing Himself as He did, as guilty 
not only of all the sins of one individual man but of all 



JESUS SWEATS BLOOD IN THE GARDEN 143 



the sins of all men in the whole world? In proportion 
to the perfection in which He knows and loves God is 
the sorrow He feels for every offence against God. Hence, 
as His wisdom is supreme, so, also, is His sorrow supreme. 
Moreover, He grieves as much as He pleases, since it 
is at His own discretion to be sorry or not, and in the 
degree that He thinks fit and proper. Consequently, 
He desires to make satisfaction to the divine justice for all 
the sins of all men, which He has taken on Himself as 
though they were actually His own ; we may be assured that 
the measure of His sorrow was in full proportion with the 
number of the sins. 

If we sum up all the sorrow of contrition that all the 
penitents of the world have had, or will have, or ought 
to have, it would be very little in comparison with this most 
grievous sorrow of the Man-God. We read of persons who, 
on account of the displeasure their sins have caused them, 
have entered on a course of most severe penance. Of others 
who have died of a broken heart. Therefore, Jesus Christ 
would have died at any moment of this grief, which was 
incomparably heavier than theirs, if His Divinity had not, 
by a continued miracle, kept Him alive. His agony and 
His bloody sweat are evidences of how intense and violent 
was His sorrow. 

Come, my soul, and inquire of Jesus the cause of this im- 
mense sadness that made Him sweat blood. Behold the 
ground on which He kneels, it is bedewed and wet with 
blood. At the very moment of His resigning Himself to 
shed His blood for us, He actually shed it; and it is un- 
doubtedly true that it was all shed for me; but it is like- 
wise certain that it will avail me nothing for the pardon of 
my sins if I do not also grieve for them. And yet, what do 
I feel in this respect ? 

God! my affections are easily enough moved by the 
affairs of this world, but for the sins that I have committed 
against Thee how unfeeling and hard is my heart? Ah, 
my good Jesus ! take from me, I beseech Thee, this heart, 
and give me another that will not in future be either joyful 



144 JE8V8 SWEATS BLOOD IN THE GARDEN 



or sad about vain matters, but which may yield itself only 
to the impressions of Thy love and may bitterly grieve for 
having offended Thee. Sometimes I imagine that I grieve 
for my faults, but my grief is but trifling. I wish it were 
great, for my sins are not small or few. I conjure Thee, 
by Thy most precious blood, to cause my grief to be at least 
of such a nature and so great that it may in the end become 
real and perfect contrition. 

I shall often reflect on the sins of my life. I have little 
sorrow for them, because I have not a right conception of 
what sin is. In order, then, that my reflections on them 
may lead to grief I shall think of them in this light : how 
many, how many offences are they against God! 

IV. The grief that made J esus Christ fall into an agony 
and sweat blood is beyond our full comprehension; but to 
form an inadequate idea of it we may say that what is done 
in the vintage is precisely the same as what took place mys- 
tically in the Garden of Gethsemani. The grape, after be- 
ing gathered, is thrown into the vat and trodden upon ; it is 
then put under press, and, the press being moved with vio- 
lence, the fruit bursts and sends out its juice on every side. 

Thus was the Heart of Jesus Christ like a cluster of 
grapes — most sweet, composed of His Divinity and inno- 
cent Humanity, but at the same time full of bitterness from 
the infinity of black, frightful objects that He had so vivid- 
ly before Him. Our sins, also, were like a ponderous wine- 
press. That most tender Heart being then placed under 
such a weight, which the zeal of the divine justice violently 
trod, was so pressed and bruised that through vehemence 
of grief it discharged blood in all directions, and with such 
force that it issued from His head, His shoulders, His 
breast, His hands, His feet; in short, from all the pores of 
His body, and ran in torrents upon the ground. 

my soul ! fix thy thoughts and affections on Thy suffer- 
ing Saviour ; gather up those precious drops of blood ; com- 
passionate and thank Him who suffers so much for Thee. 
Woe to thee if thy heart is not softened by so much blood, 
and such loving blood! But, good Jesus! who groanest 



JESUS SWEATS BLOOD IN THE GARDEN 145 



and art faint, who dost- suffer and sweat beneath the load 
of my sins, apply Thy merits, I beseech Thee, to me that 
I may rid myself of the burden of all these sins. Sprinkle 
me with only one drop of Thy blood, for one drop is suffi- 
cient to purify, to sanctify, and to save me. For myself, 
I desire to imitate Thee by bruising my heart with contri- 
tion and by shedding some few tears of sorrow for my sins 
in return for the shedding of Thy blood. Ah, merciful 
J esus ! let Thy mercy be shown to me and let it comfort me. 

Since, Eternal Father! I have no means to satisfy 
Thee for my manifold sins, I offer Thee as a sacrifice of 
penance the most sweet, the most afflicted Heart of Thy 
only-begotten Son, Jesus ; that Heart crushed with the fear 
of Its own sufferings, broken with sorrow for my sins. 
Wilt Thou refuse this offering ? I am confident that Thou 
wilt not since it is the Heart of Thy beloved Son, and a 
broken and humble heart, to whomsoever it may belong, 
Thou wilt not despise. 

It is true that, without a special grace from God, I can 
not grieve for my sins as I should ; it is also true that I do 
not deserve this grace; but I shall ask it with confidence, 
through the merits of Jesus Christ. 

V. In a holocaust of the Old Law the entire victim was 
burnt and offered up, and God accepted it for an odor of 
sweetness inasmuch as it was a figure of Jesus Christ. 
Now we have to contemplate the accomplishment of this 
figure. Jesus Christ in the garden sacrifices and offers 
Himself unreservedly, whole and entire, to the divine 
Majesty, since He suffers in His body, which is in an agony 
and bathed in blood. He suffers in the rational part of His 
soul, that is, in His will, which grieves beneath the almost 
infinite load of sins. What portion of His body or what 
power of His soul is there that is not afflicted with most 
excruciating suffering, or which He does not immolate as 
a perfect holocaust ? 

It is the malice of our will that causes sin when our will 
is opposed to the divine Will. Therefore, sin can not be 
destroyed except by a contrary act of the same will grieving 



146 JESUS SWEATS BLOOD IN THE GARDEN 

for the offence against God. This is what Jesus Christ did 
throughout His life. And He does it with striking earn- 
estness of intention in the garden, exerting His will to 
grieve for all our offences against God, with acts so intense 
and ardent that on account of their excessive vehemence 
He begins to sweat blood. 

Whatever portion of the sufferings of Jesus Christ we 
select for meditation, whether exterior or interior pains, we 
must form our idea of them as most grievous, surpassing 
all pains that can be undergone in this present life. But 
we must meditate principally on the sorrow that He had for 
our sins, because we should imitate it. We may, perhaps, 
plead an excuse if at times we fail to imitate Our Saviour 
in some of His other pains; but we are strictly obliged to 
imitate Him in the sorrow of His will, with our will peni- 
tent and afflicted above all other causes of sorrow for every 
offence that we have committed against God. 

Here then, behold my will which I offer to Thee, my 
God ! This is the guilty wretch that has had power to sin, 
but without Thy assistance is incapable of grieving as it 
ought for its sins. I offer it to Thee, such as it is ; a sinful 
will that desires to become penitent ; a will that having been 
rebellious and ungrateful to Thee now desires to love Thee. 
I implore Thee not to reject it. Vouchsafe to accept it, and 
by Thy mercy to strengthen it in its good desires and com- 
fort it. I wish this will of mine no longer to belong to me, 
but to be altogether Thine ; so that it may obey Thee per- 
fectly in everything and may never more resist Thee. I 
have nothing more precious or more agreeable to offer Thee, 
and this I offer Thee with my whole heart, without reserve. 

Corporal penance, performed according to one's ability, 
is commendable. But the penance of the will, which con- 
sists in sorrow for sin, is indispensable. Therefore, 
throughout the whole course of my life I shall be mindful 
of this. 

VI. If we inquire the cause why the will of God was so 
excessively tormented by the displeasure and detestation 
that it experienced for our sins, one cause, and this the 



JESUS SWEATS BLOOD IN THE GARDEN 147 

principal, was because His will was possessed with immense 
love for God and zeal for His glory. In order that the 
Humanity of Jesus Christ might be a perfect holocaust of 
expiation for our sins His soul had to be immolated and 
burned. And if we would understand how this sacrifice 
was accomplished we may suppose that, this soul having 
been created by God on purpose that it might love God in 
an unspeakable degree, the love of God was the arrow that 
pierced it and the fire that consumed it; and that in pro- 
portion to the intensity of its love to God, which was ex- 
treme, was also the excess and intensity of its sorrow and 
contrition for the offences of men against God. 

The love of God assuaged the pains of the martyrs. The 
same love of God increases those of Jesus Christ; — and 
how is this ? J esus Christ with His mind's eye beholds an 
innumerable host of sinners arming themselves to fight 
against God. They employ all their wickedness and force to 
cast God down from His throne; and, were it possible, to 
make God no longer God. Hence it is, that as He loves God 
with all the intensity of which a soul hypostatically united 
to Him is capable, beholding this same most lovely God so 
greatly contemned and outraged by the meanest, most un- 
grateful of His creatures, He conceives so immense a sorrow 
for it, proportioned to the exceeding greatness of His love, 
that He must swoon, fall into an agony, and sweat blood. 

From these sublime and true reflections I may infer 
the reason that I have so little, so very little, sorrow for 
my sins. It is simply because, in my heart, there is little, 
very little, love for God. The fact is, my God! I do 
not love Thee, and for this reason I do not grieve for 
having offended Thee. Who but Thou can give me this 
love, which is a simple, gratuitous gift of Thine ? I desire 
to love Thee on account of the desire and obligation that I 
have to grieve for my wickedness and for not having hith- 
erto loved Thee, and for having, on the contrary, so griev- 
ously offended Thee. Ah, my God ! when shall my desires 
be made practical ? When shall I offer to Thee in sincerity, 
once for all, my whole being ? This work should no longer 



148 JESUS SWEATS BLOOD IN THE GARDEN 

be delayed. Xo; I am already far too dilatory in resolving 
upon it. I now ask the grace, Eternal Father ! to accom- 
plish it. I ask it through that which is of all things the 
most dear to Thee, — that is, by the reciprocal love with 
which Thou lovest J esus and Jesus loves Thee. 

I shall try to discover in myself the reason why I do not 
love God; and as I shall find that it is because I love 
creatures too ardently, I shall detach myself especially from 
those that are prejudicial to me and place an obstacle to my 
love of God. 

VII. Whoever loves God loves also everything that God 
loves. Consequently, as God has a great love for our souls, 
since they were created by Him after His own image, Jesus 
Christ also has an exceeding love for them. The reason 
that He came down from heaven upon earth was solely that 
He might redeem souls from eternal death. For this rea- 
son alone He toiled through the whole course of His life. 
I\"ow He is prepared for suffering and death simply to 
fulfil this His one and only work, the salvation of souls. 

Therefore, as He beholds a countless multitude of souls 
of all the tribes of Gentiles, but more particularly so many 
Jews, who were His brethren according to the flesh, and 
so many Christians, much more His brethren by grace, who 
would not profit by His Passion and in spite of it would be 
eternally damned, who can express the immensity of His 
grief in compassionating them? Its greatness must have 
been proportioned to His charity toward the multitude of 
souls that He foresaw would be lost by their sins, and to 
the excess of the pains of hell to which they would expose 
themselves. 

St. Paul was so grieved on account of his compassion for 
certain Israelites who were in a state of perdition, that he 
longed to save them even at the cost of his own soul, if this 
had been permitted without sin. A similar example of 
zeal we read of in Moses. What, then, were the feelings of 
Jesus, whose charity for souls was without a parallel, im- 
mense ? This is the grief that overwhelms Him, casts Him 
to the ground and makes Him sweat blood. 



JESUS SWEATS BLOOD IN THE GARDEN 149 



Ah, my most sweet Saviour ! shall I elect to be one of 
those who will be lost because they will not reap any fruit 
from Thy merits ? Certainly not. This. shall never be. I 
now realize how precious my soul was in Thy eyes. It shall 
also be precious to me; at all costs I shall save it. I am 
sorry for having so frequently run the risk of damning it 
eternally by my sins. I shall never again do the like. That 
Thou shouldst have sweat blood to satisfy for my sins, from 
one viewpoint distresses, but in another it consoles me ; and 
I thank Thee since there was no other remedy for me. But 
that Thou shouldst have sweat blood from a sentiment of 
compassion for my damnation, this, no ! I will not agree to ; 
and I pray Thee, by Thy blood, never to permit me to be 
damned. As I now return thanks to Thee for the shedding 
of this blood, so I hope to do the same for endless ages in 
heaven. 

For the salvation of my soul Jesus Christ spared neither 
toils, nor tears, nor sweat, nor blood. And I, what do I do 
for my salvation ? What am I resolved to do ? 

VIII. For the same reason that Jesus Christ shed tears 
over J erusalem, He now also sheds His blood in the garden ; 
the thoughts that fill His mind cause an excessive aggrava- 
tion of His sufferings. He realizes that He must die for 
all in order that all may be saved; but, at the same time, 
He sees that through their own fault all will not be saved ; 
nay, that His death will be to many foolishness and a 
scandal, and will make them more culpable and deserving 
of greater punishment in hell. What a torment is this to 
His most loving Heart ? To die for the elect, for His dear 
friends, is sweet and agreeable to Him. But that He must 
die for all, and that of these all many will be reprobates and 
His eternal enemies; — this is to Him a source of anguish 
beyond measure. 

The Saviour of the world wishes, as far as in Him lies, 
that all should be saved ; but in conformity to the Father's 
eternal decree He does not wish that any should be saved 
who will not be saved, or would be saved by force. Who- 
ever is saved must have a desire to be saved. Jesus Christ, 



150 JESUS SWEATS BLOOD IN THE GARDEN 



therefore, perceiving that not all have this good will, and 
that many, on the contrary, have a wicked, perverse will, is 
excessively grieved on this account, so as to faint, to be 
agitated, and to sweat blood, because His charity desires 
that no one should be damned. The angel would comfort 
Him, but He is not now concerned about the angels, this 
loving Shepherd, who has left the heavenly court and has 
come down on earth to seek the lost sheep. He seeks souls. 
And oh! if Judas or any other great sinner would but 
humble himself and repent, — this would indeed be sufficient 
to turn His sorrow into joy by reason of the delight that 
His love would experience. 

But, my most afflicted Eedeemer! if one sinful soul is 
able to console Thee, behold my soul, sinful in truth, capa- 
ble of as much wickedness as any in the world. I am pre- 
cisely one of those that have not the will to be saved, be- 
cause, being entangled by evil passions, they have not the 
will to amend. But I now retract all the acts of my will in 
which I have heretofore so long persisted. I am grieved 
over all my sins for this reason alone — that they are offences 
against Thee, the sovereign Good, who art infinitely worthy 
of being loved. I am determined to be saved, and in order 
that I may be saved I am resolved to amend. Do Thou, 
my God ! I beseech Thee, make my resolution efficacious and 
constant by Thy most holy grace. Enlighten me that I 
may know in what I should principally amend, and assist 
me by Thy powerful grace truly to effect my conversion. 

I shall examine what manner of resolution I have made 
in regard to my eternal salvation, for he is not actually re- 
solved to be saved who does not make use of the proper 
means, which are to shun vice and to acquire virtue. 

IX. Charity, which means love, love of God and love for 
souls, may be said in a general way to have caused the agony 
and bloody sweat of Jesus Christ in the garden. It is this 
charity which, like a fire intensely hot, melts His Heart 
and convulses Him with that vehement desire to suffer and 
to satisfy the Eternal Father for us. He desires to shed 
His blood far more than His enemies desire it ; and, if the 



JESUS SWEATS BLOOD IN THE GARDEN 151 



fear of His Passion afflicts Him in the inferior part of His 
soul, much more is He afflicted in the superior part by the 
delay of this same Passion for which He so ardently longs. 
To Him it is a passion that His Passion is delayed. He 
feels as though He were dying from the desire of dying 
actually for us. 

All this had been foretold by Himself when He called 
His Passion a Baptism, to intimate that He was to be 
deluged in His own blood, and when He spoke of the in- 
tolerable anguish caused by His charity, to which hours 
appeared as years as He was waiting for the time of His 
Passion for which He so earnestly sighed. Our under- 
standing can form no idea of the immensity of this His 
sorrow, because it can form no idea of the immensity of His 
love. It is in truth this love that forces Him to sweat 
blood, for it can not brook that the Eedemption of our 
souls should be delayed even for a single moment. Behold, 
my soul! the anguish, into which the Heart of Thy most 
loving Saviour is thrown on thy account. 

But how ungratefully, my J esus, is Thy love responded 
to! All the pores of Thy body are so many mouths that 
call out to my heart to love Thee in return for having loved 
me so much as to shed Thy blood for love. With the eyes 
of faith I see how much love has made Thee do for me, and 
how much do I love Thee in return? What do I do for 
Thee? 

When I consider how active is the love with which world- 
lings cease not to labor to acquire riches, honors, and fleet- 
ing pleasures; and reflect, on the other hand, how little, 
what a mere nothing, is the love that I have for Thee ; how 
little, what a nothing it is that I do for Thee, as I have not 
resolution to mortify myself in anything, what shame and 
confusion is all this to me ! my God ! who givest me light 
to know my obligations, strengthen me also to fulfil them 
perfectly. Thou hast merited for me the grace to love 
Thee. Therefore, refuse me not that which is due to Thy 
merits. Let Thy love enter into me and oblige me to think 



152 JESUS SWEATS BLOOD IN THE GARDEN 

no more of anything but of Thee, to imitate Thee, and to 
please Thee by the constant acquisition of virtue. 

I grieve for having so little love for Jesus Christ, and I 
shall not flatter myself with the idea that I love Him so 
long as I do not earnestly endeavor to imitate Him. Fra- 
ternal charity, founded on humility, is the virtue of His 
predilection. 

X. A great fire will burn the more brightly in propor- 
tion to the strength with which the wind blows ; thus it is 
exactly with the charity of Jesus Christ, which only grows 
the stronger the more it is contradicted by the ingratitude 
of men, which the holy Fathers call a blighting wind that 
dries up the springs of the divine mercy. The sins that 
will yet be committed, and the sinners who will yet go to 
hell in spite of His Passion, crowd upon His thoughts; but 
His charity, instead of being quenched on this account, only 
breathes out a brighter flame. Eeason and sense would 
cause Him to grudge the endurance of a Passion which to 
so many will, through their own fault, be rendered un- 
availing, and this conflict of feelings forces the blood to fall 
from Him in large drops. However, His charity, far from 
being cooled, burns the more and melts His Heart as wax 
is melted at the fire. In this conflict of His charity against 
the ingratitude of man, Jesus Christ sees that He Himself, 
who now, as a most compassionate Eedeemer, is about to 
suffer for the salvation of souls, shall one day, as a most 
just Judge, have to condemn a vast number of sinful souls 
redeemed by Him. He sees in the garden that sentence of 
eternal malediction which He will pronounce against them 
on the Day of Judgment. Yes ; He sees it most vividly in 
all its circumstances, as if He had that very moment to 
pronounce it. What a torment, good God, was this to Thy 
charity ! Yet it does not extinguish it. On the contrary, 
it inflames it the more. So He does not wait for the ruffians 
to vent their cruelty upon Him; He forestalls them and 
gives evidence, by streams of blood from every part of His 
body, that His charity far exceeds their cruelty. 

Recall now to mind, my soul, the treason of Judas, who 



TWO MYSTERIES IN THE PASSION 



153 



sold Jesus Christ for thirty pieces of silver. Then con- 
template that most precious blood which the Incarnate Son 
of God spontaneously sheds in such abundance for the Ke- 
demption of mankind, and cry out in amazement : Oh, how 
miserable is the price for which a man sells God! Oh, 
how munificent the price for which God buys man ! 

Moreover, I shall reflect that the Saviour has charitably 
applied to my benefit His bloody sweat in order to obtain 
for me the grace of pardon and the flight of sin. How 
have I hitherto availed myself of this blood ? How have I 
cooperated with His merits by penance? my Jesus! I 
hear Thy voice, I hear Thee complain, with the Prophet, 
that I have in the past made Thy love and Thy blood of no 
benefit to myself. Alas ! Thou hast good reason to com- 
plain. I also lament. Let me not, I beseech Thee, con- 
tinue to be the ungrateful wretch that I have been. 

I shall retain in my memory this Man-God in agony; I 
shall remember that He will come in majesty as Judge, to 
condemn those who have rejected His mercy by refusing to 
be converted with all their heart to God. Oh, then, let us 
now at last be truly converted ! 



CHAPTEK XXII. 

TWO MYSTERIES IN THE PASSION OF JESUS CHRIST IN" THE 

GARDEN. 

I. Before leaving the consideration of the Passion 
which Jesus Christ endured in the garden, we must not fail 
to observe that nothing of all that took place in that garden 
was ruled by accident. The Saviour was pleased for our 
sake to choose this place by deliberate counsel of His provi- 
dence. The Garden of Gethsemani, in which He suffered 
sadness, fears, swooning, heaviness, and a bloody sweat — 
in which He was also apprehended by His enemies, to be 
led to death, — is situated at the foot of Mount Olivet, the 
foot of the same mountain from which He afterward as- 



154 



TWO MYSTERIES IN THE PASSION 



cended, there leaving the print of His footsteps when, 
according to the words of the Prophet, He went up tri- 
umphantly to heaven. 

Therefore, Jesus Christ having suffered on Mount Olivet, 
and having also from the same place ascended to eternal 
glory, we may learn that the way to heaven is the way of 
suffering. Jesus Christ had to walk by this way. By the 
same way we also must walk after Him. We can not have 
delights both in this world and in the other. We must re- 
nounce either the vain pleasures of this world or the eter- 
nal pleasures of the next. The most infallible mark of our 
predestination is the imitation of the sacred Passion. It is 
certain that if now we are partakers with Jesus in His 
patience, we shall hereafter be partakers with Him in 
eternal glory. 

How sweet, my soul, ought suffering be to thee, if it 
were only that we thereby keep Jesus company in His 
dolorous Passion ! But how far more dear should suffering 
be to thee, since by means of it thou canst in the end keep 
Him company in eternal bliss ! However great may be our 
sufferings in this world, they all are little or nothing in 
comparison either with what Jesus has suffered or with 
what is gained by the merits of Jesus in heaven. This 
world, also, has its garden of apparent delight, but of real 
shame and which conducts to eternal pains; — the reverse 
of the Garden of Olives, whence they who suffer with J esus 
ascend with Him to everlasting joys. My soul, let us 
gladly take our place in this garden where Jesus suffered. 
Vanities, pleasures, pastimes of the world, I renounce you; 
and I pray Thee, my Jesus ! to give me a disgust for them 
all. Mortifications, abnegation of the senses and of my own 
will, I love you ; and I implore Thee, J esus ! to make me 
love ever more and more all that which Thou hast loved. 
Lead me often into this garden to gather a little bundle of 
myrrh, since I have abundant occasions of suffering, if in 
no other way, at least by resisting my corrupt passions. 
This garden is the one of my choice that I may there weep 



TWO MYSTERIES IN THE PASSION 



155 



for my sins, where Thou, in the days of Thy flesh, didst 
shed so many tears for me. 

When nature within me feels repugnance and disgust for 
a devout life, I shall raise up the eyes of my faith to behold 
that eternal Paradise where Jesus Christ awaits me, and 
hope will sweeten all my bitterness. 

II. Another remarkable circumstance to be considered 
is, that near the Garden of Gethsemani, where runs the 
torrent of Cedron, is the Valley of J osaphat, where, accord- 
ing to the Prophetic oracles, the General Judgment of the 
whole world will take place. It can not be without mystery 
that the Last Judgment should be held near the identical 
spot in which Jesus Christ shed His blood for us : since an 
account will be demanded of every drop of that blood, and 
with it shall be written the sentence of salvation of the 
elect and of damnation of the reprobate. • 

He who came once as Saviour shall come again in 
majesty as Judge; and for a public testimony of the charity 
He has had for souls, He will reveal in its entirety all that 
which is now unknown and can not be understood of His 
most bitter Passion. He will then call Heaven and earth 
to witness, and leave it to all creatures to say, if He could 
have done more for the salvation of souls. He will in- 
terrogate the consciences of men. He will ask how they 
have profited by the Sacraments, by indulgences, sermons, 
inspirations, and the abundance of other graces that flow 
from the plentiful Redemption that He has accomplished 
for us. He will cause it to be seen how, without being in 
any way bound, He has satisfied by His blood for our 
debts ; and as it shall appear how much we were bound to 
correspond and cooperate with His merits, our enormous 
ingratitude will be contrasted with His immense mercy. 
Consequently, His holy Passion will cover the faces of the 
reprobate with confusion. 

Look up, my soul, and reflect what will be thy case 
in that tremendous judgment. What wilt thou say ? What 
wilt thou answer, when God asks of thee a detailed ac- 
count of all His mercies in thy behalf? Now, in the 



156 JESUS GOES FORTH TO MEET HIS ENEMIES 

Garden of Gethsemani, the mercy of the Saviour invites 
and waits for thee, offering thee nothing but favor. Woe 
to thee if thou dost refuse it! Woe to thee if thou dost 
despise it! For it is this mercy that will give terror to 
His judgment in the Valley of Josaphat. 

Ah, no, my Jesus ! I shall not refuse Thy mercy. No, it 
is that mercy I implore. Oh, let that mercy overshadow me. 
Let me know what it demands of me, and with the assist- 
ance of Thy grace I pledge myself to be no longer rebel- 
lious to the good pleasure of Thy mercy. Let Thy mercy 
come to pardon the sins I have committed, and to safe- 
guard me from committing them again. I trust in Thy 
mercy, which is favorably disposed to me; and as I now 
yield myself to its guidance I implore Thee. my Saviour ! 
in the Day of Judgment that Thou wilt save me from the 
rigors of the same mercy, which will then be most terrible. 

In meditating on the Passion of Jesus Christ I shall fre- 
quently recollect the judgment. And to reap more fruit 
from the consideration, I shall remember that I shall have 
to render a strict account of every drop of His most pre- 
cious blood. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

JESUS CHRIST IN THE GARDEN GOES FORTH TO MEET HIS 
ENEMIES. 

I. While Jesus Christ is praying and suffering in the 
garden, J udas having warned the J ews that this night is a 
convenient time to take Him without noise, a troop of 
guards and others are quickly called together. Arms, 
staves, and lanterns are made ready, and they set out on the 
way to Gethsemani, led on by Judas, who knows that, ac- 
cording to His custom, his divine Master will be found 
there. 

II. The Jews approach the garden, filled with hatred, 
envy, and rage against Jesus Christ, longing to lay their 



JESUS GOES FORTH TO MEET HIS ENEMIES 15? 

hands on Him and make Him their prisoner. Jesus Christ, 
on His part, approaches them; loving, amiable, gentle, 
longing to be taken by them. We might doubt which of the 
two was the greater, the desire of Jesus Christ to give Him- 
self up to His enemies or their desire to seize Him — if we 
did not know, or did not understand, how immense is the 
charity of J esus, moving Him on the one hand to obey the 
will of God, and on the other to accomplish the Redemption 
of the world. But, charity of Jesus, how much greater 
art thou than the malice of Judas ! 

Let us contemplate, on the one side, the Jews exasper- 
ated with rage ; on the other, Jesus going to meet them 
with a willing Heart and cheerful aspect. He is the first to 
speak, as though He were about to hear some joyful news or 
to receive a rich present from them. Once He fled, when 
they were thinking of making Him king. Now, that they 
are coming to bind Him and lead Him away to death, He 
does not flee. Humility then was the cause of His flight. 
It is charity now that restrains Him. Charity which gives 
Him courage ; charity which moves and presses Him on to 
meet torments and outrages. He is anxious that this should 
be made manifest. Therefore, when He sees the Apostles 
overcome with fear, He acts in a manner to make it evident 
to all that if He surrenders it is not through necessity, but 
by His own spontaneous will, resigned to the decrees of 
God. 

Oh, if there was in my heart the slightest love of God 
how different would be the tenor of my life ! Whoever loves 
God truly suffers willingly at all times ; suffering does not 
appear to him to be suffering. Since I am then so averse to 
suffering, that instead of desiring and seeking it as Jesus 
Christ did I avoid it as much as possible, I ought to fear 
that I only imagine that I love God, while in reality I do 
not love Him. The love of God is always active, never idle. 
And what do I do for the love of God ? We can not believe 
that the love of God dwells where works of the love of God 
are not manifest. 

Have pity, my Jesus ! on this poor sinner who has lived 



158 JESUS GOES FORTH TO MEET HIS ENEMIES 

so long without the love of God. For love of Thy most 
sweet love, which caused Thee to surrender Thyself into the 
hands of sinners, inflame me with this same love, so that I 
may love and desire and seek at all times, in every thing, 
perfectly to accomplish the will of God. 

To love God I should be disposed to do His will in all 
things, but to do His will I must deny myself. In what, 
then, am I prepared to deny my own will in order that I 
may do the will of God? 

III. Judas is well aware that Jesus Christ can not be 
apprehended unless He chooses ; and yet, blinded by his own 
wickedness, He procures a troop of armed men, thinking to 
take Him by force. With this troop, led on by Judas, go 
also many of the priests and Pharisees (Luke xxii, 52.) ; 
for as they had before now, at different times, endeavored to 
take Him and failed in the attempt, probably they have no 
confidence in the traitor and think it best to go in person 
so as to make sure, this time at least, of getting Him into 
their hands. 

They flatter themselves that He will not now escape, and 
they make game of Him for saying that He is God. Jesus 
beholds their wicked thoughts and soon confounds them. 
For, having asked them whom they seek, and they having 
answered, Jesus of Nazareth, He adds but these few words, 
I am He .- 1 when, in an instant, all of them, thrown back by 
an invisible power, fall like dead men to the ground. He 
calls down no angels from heaven to defend Him; His 
voice alone is sufficient to declare that He is God. 

Such was at all times His conduct, to prove that He was 
Man to those who did not regard Him as Man, and to prove 
Himself God to those who did not believe Him to be God. 
Therefore, after showing Himself to the Apostles as true 
Man by the sadness He suffered, He shows Himself to them 
also as true God by giving to His human voice a divine 
virtue, by which His enemies are terrified and thrown to 
the ground. As Man, He asks whom they seek, as though 

(') St. John xviii, 5. 



JESUS GOES FORTH TO MEET HIS ENEMIES 159 

He knew it not ; as God, He casts them to the ground with 
one stroke of His omnipotence. 

Jesus of Nazareth, Man-God, how lovely art Thou and 
how terrible ! How well Thou knowest how to make those 
fear Thee who refuse to love Thee! These words, I am 
He, 1 — that is, Jesus, which means Saviour, — are truly 
words of joy to those that love Thee and words of terror to 
those that seek to offend Thee. Behold, then, my soul 
which desires to love Thee. Say to it, I am He, thy 
Saviour ; and this will be enough to fill it with comfort and 
joy. But within me there is a host of wicked passions: 
pride, anger, envy, sloth, luxury, and many more, — all con- 
spiring against Thee. Say, then, also to them, I am He; 
and vanquish them, so that they may never again dare raise 
their head against Thee. This, in short, my Saviour ! is 
what I ask of Thee. Make me fear Thee so, that I may not 
offend Thee, and make me love Thee with my whole heart 
that I may give Thee pleasure. 

The desire to love God avails but little so long as we 
permit our passions to have full sway. Let us mortify them 
and remain in the purgative way, without longing so ar- 
dently to enter on the illuminative and unitive ways. 

IV. Jesus Christ, having thus overcome His enemies, 
asks them once more whom they seek; thereupon they all 
rise up, full of bitterness and rage as before. Meanwhile, 
He has given them a proof that they would have no power 
over Him if He did not permit it; and it is a consolation 
to the Apostles, throughout the Passion, to know that He 
could never suffer or die against His own will. We must 
not proceed further without making a most profitable 
reflection. 

If Jesus Christ, by the mere sound of His voice, cast to 
the ground the multitude of those who were coming with 
rage to apprehend Him, Jews and Gentiles together, though 
He was all the time disposed to let them take Him, to be 
judged and condemned, with what terror and consternation 
do we suppose His voice will be accompanied when He shall 

{') St. John xviii, 5. 



160 JESUS RECEIVES THE KISS FROM JUDAS 



come to judge the world? If, I repeat, Jesus Christ was so 
terrible to sinners in His humility, what shall He be on the 
Day of Judgment, when He will appear in majesty? Oh, 
how the hearts of sinners will tremble in their breasts when 
they shall see coming as their J udge Him whom they have 
so greatly offended! More frightful than a thunderbolt 
will be the words that He shall say, Depart from Me, you 
cursed, 1 and with which He shall immediately plunge them 
into hell. 

I, too, shall form one of that general assemblage; and 
what then shall become of me, my God ? If Thy mercy 
does not at present assist me, I do not see how I can safe- 
guard myself on that last day of Thy most righteous wrath. 
My sins are excessive and I have deserved Thy eternal curse 
times innumerable. If the Day of Judgment were now at 
hand what should I say? What should I do, as there is 
scarcely a vice of which my conscience does not accuse me ? 
Mercy, Lord, my God ! I confess that I deserve a thousand 
deaths, — I deserve that death which is eternal, and in my- 
self I find nothing but matter for terror and despair. Jesus, 
divine Saviour, how much I owe to Thy most tender 
mercy! It is this which greatly sustains my heart, this 
makes me hope and encourages me to ask of Thee eternal 
life. I ask pardon for my sins and the life of Thy grace ; I 
ask Thee also for the life of Thy glory, that I may love and 
bless Thee now and for ages and ages to come. Amen. 

On the Day of Judgment it shall be known who is this 
Man-God who bringeth down the proud and exalteth the 
humble. Therefore, I shall endeavor to be humble and 
adore Him with fear. 



CHAPTER XXIV: 

JESUS CHRIST RECEIVES THE KISS FROM JUDAS. 

I. J udas had said to the multitude that was with him : 
Whomsoever I shall kiss, that is He, hold Him fast. 2 At 
(*) St. Matt, xxv, 41. ( 2 ) St, Matt, xxvi, 48. 



JESUS RECEIVES THE KISS FROM JUDAS 161 

the same time he had warned them to take the greatest care 
in binding Jesus, and to lead Him away with all possible 
caution lest He should escape. According to the appointed 
signal, the traitor goes in advance of them all and ap- 
proaches J esus Christ to give Him the kiss. 

Take a glance, my soul, at Judas. Behold this 
audacious hypocrite, with a bright and cheerful counte- 
nance, lest he should betray his insidious purpose, go for- 
ward to meet his divine Master and to deliver Him with a 
token of peace into the hands of His enemies. The Prophet 
had already foretold that the Messiah was to be betrayed 
with this sign. But we must reflect again. Only a few 
moments before had Judas fallen to the ground with the 
others at those words of the Saviour, / am He. He must, 
at the time, have been confounded and terrified at that 
stroke of Omnipotence; and should he not have been im- 
pressed with some slight fear of God, and have opened the 
eyes of his mind, and repented? If, in the very act of 
preparing to commit a sin, I felt myself thrown on the 
ground by an invisible hand, I fancy that my courage 
would fail me for the wicked act and that I should refrain 
from it. However, not the slightest change takes place in 
Judas. He immediately recovers himself and is as wicked 
as ever. Oh, what a spectacle is this ! 

Yet, we need not marvel at him. Judas is under the 
dominion of avarice, he has betrayed his Lord for money; 
and now he longs to have in his hands the price of his 
treachery, covenanted to be paid him on his fulfilment of 
his part ; and he has come to such a pass as to make a kiss 
— the mark of love — the instrument of the greatest of all 
possible crimes. What will not a predominant passion 
bring us to? It blinds, it hardens, it renders powerless 
the most urgent motives for conversion. If any one had 
told Judas, in the first period of his Apostleship, that he 
would one day be so perverted by covetousness as to harden 
his heart against the voice of mercy and the wonders of 
Omnipotence, he would not have believed it. Yet what 



162 JESUS RECEIVES THE KISS FROM JUDAS 

then would have seemed to him incredible afterward proved 
to be true. 

If some one should tell me the same of myself, I would 
not believe it. And yet, my God ! who knows how soon 
some trifling passion may take hold on me and, gaining 
strength, may grow to be wholly ungovernable? I have 
within me the seed of every vice and the inclination to 
every vice, and innate malice fully capable of hurrying me 
to extremity. Lord ! keep Thy hand over me, I beseech 
Thee ; for besides Thee there is none who can restrain and 
preserve me. Thou, and Thou alone, art my strength. In 
Thee I place my trust. 

God has promised me His help. But I must examine 
myself to discover my predominant passion, that I may, by 
indefatigable violence, control and overcome it. 

II. Judas approaches Our Saviour, and before giving 
Him the kiss salutes Him by saying, Hail, Rabbi! 1 Could 
there be a worse hypocrite? — a veritable wolf in sheep's 
clothing, who seeks to scatter the flock by laying snares for 
the Master. He gives Jesus Christ a salutation of love 
while cherishing implacable hatred toward Him. He 
wishes Him health, and comes to carry Him off to death. 
He calls Him Rabbi, and tramples under foot His holy in- 
structions. The false wretch thinks he has to deal with a 
mere man, who does not see through his artifices. He 
flatters Himself that he can deceive Him with the semblance 
of friendship while he stretches forth his hands and draws 
near to give Him that kiss. 

Behold the charity of Jesus ! He does not shrink from 
this cruel wild beast that assails Him. He answers this 
liar with affectionate simplicity. He calls him by his name 
with a voice expressive of tender sorrow. Judas, He says, 
dost thou betray the Son of man with a kiss? 2 By His 
humility and gentleness He declares Himself Man, and, at 
the same time, allows him to see that He is God by reveal- 
ing to him his secret, treacherous intention in that kiss. 
Why does He give an answer so courteous, so sweet, to one 

0) St, Matt, xx vi, 49. ( 2 ) St. Luke xxii, 48. 



JESUS RECEIVES TME KISS FROM JUDAS 163 



who is deserving of the utmost severity ? It was that Judas 
might understand the charity and patience with which his 
repentance was even now expected, and that in this man- 
ner his obstinate heart might be softened. But Judas per- 
sists in his obduracy in spite of all. wretch, pitiable 
indeed, and yet deserving of no pity! 

In Judas I see a true portraiture of myself. Ah, my 
Jesus! I, too, call Thee Master; but I do not conduct my- 
self as Thy disciple ought to do. Is not this hypocritical 
affectation by which the tongue says one thing and the 
heart another? Nevertheless, tender goodness of my 
God ! how often, when I fall into an occasion of sin and am 
tempted and inclined to commit it, Thou callest me by my 
name with a gentle voice and Thou sayest to me interiorly, 
as Thou didst to Judas, Dost thou betray the Son of 
man with a hiss f 1 Sweet, loving voice ! yet I ungratefully 
and obstinately turn a deaf ear. Jesus, my Redemption ! 
I deserve that Thou also shouldst be deaf to me when in 
my necessity I call on Thee for help ; but Thy mercy is in- 
finite and I shall not despair. I now implore Thee, with 
the innermost voice of my heart, to remove from me all my 
wickedness and fill me with Thy grace. Make me hear Thy 
voice, and soften my hard heart that I may obey it, so that 
Thy love may no longer be betrayed by me. 

I shall repent of my ingratitude in not corresponding 
with so many loving inspirations of God, and when in 
danger of falling into sin I shall hearken to Jesus Christ 
saying to me what He said to Judas, Dost thou betray the 
Son of man with a hiss? 

III. Judas, coming near to Jesus Christ, throws his 
arms around His neck; he presses Him to his breast and 
gives Him a kiss on the face. And what does J esus Christ 
say ? What does He do ? How does He behave toward this 
worthless wretch, who has the effrontery to make use of a 
kiss — the token of love — as a signal of malignity such as 
has never been heard of, to break that peace which he had 
sworn when he became an Apostle? innocent Lamb of 

0) St.Xuke xxii, 48. 



164 JESUS RECEIVES THE KISS FROM JUDAS 

God ! how canst Thou permit Thyself to be approached, to 
be embraced by this infernal wolf? 

Meanwhile, Jesus Christ is aware of all that is done, 
said, and thought against Him. Therefore, when He sees 
with His mind's eye that Judas is near at hand, He rises 
from prayer; He awakens the Apostles, who were still 
sleeping; He warns them of the danger, encourages and 
animates them for the conflict. He does not retire, nor hide 
Himself, nor fly ; but He divests Himself of the fear which 
a short time before caused Him to tremble and be troubled. 
He goes forth, bold and intrepid, to face His enemies. 

Let us stop to marvel at this, but let us also learn a les- 
son from it. Jesus Christ had recommended to His Apos- 
tles to pray, that they might obtain courage to undergo the 
approaching trial. Now He allows these same Apostles, 
and us with them, to behold by His example how powerful a 
means prayer is for subduing the passions, for driving away 
melancholy, for strengthening the spirit to obey the divine 
Will. He had come into the garden filled with sadness at 
the prospect of His Passion and death. In the garden He 
prayed three times, and after His prayer see with what 
tranquil constancy He goes to meet all that had previously 
been the subject of His fears. 

my Lord God, how truly is Thy doctrine confirmed by 
Thy example — that prayer is a most efficacious remedy for 
all my necessities ! But how, then, is it that after prayer 
I find myself as weak as I was before, as ready to yield to 
my passions and to sink under temptations ? I can account 
for this only by concluding that I do not pray as I ought, 
and that my heart, in prayer, is more occupied with vanity 
than with God. And what profit do I gain by appearing 
before Thee with my body present but my spirit absent? 
my Jesus ! assist me by Thy grace ; inspire, excite, help 
my wretched spirit to say the few prayers that I do say 
with the fervor and feeling with which Thou art pleased 
they should be said ; not only applying my understanding 
to the meditation of Thy mysteries, but forming, moreover, 
such affections on them as correspond to my necessities. 



JESUS RECEIVES THE KISS EROM JUDAS 165 



When I have to conquer my repugnances and to mortify 
myself, I shall say to the powers of my soul what Jesus said 
to the Apostles : Why sleep you? arise, pray, lest you enter 
into temptation} 

Angels of Heaven ! come now and admire the goodness, 
the charity, the sweetness of Jesus Christ. He does not 
withdraw His divine face from that mouth so full of curs- 
ing and bitterness, that might well have disgusted even the 
devils. He does not refuse that kiss, but He receives it 
with the utmost serenity. He shows Himself peaceable to- 
ward him who, on his side, obstinately refuses to have any- 
thing to do with peace. With patience truly divine He 
bears with Judas even at this late hour, and in the very 
moment of his executing his treachery He calls him, He 
invites him to conversion, — but in vain. The Saviour 
knows that this impious man will not be, converted. Yet 
He is not wanting on His part. He super abounds with 
care, and with profound wisdom He bears with the traitor 
in order fully to accomplish His work as Saviour. 

And what fruit ought we, my soul, to gather from this ? 
Let us think no more of Judas, but leave him to his per- 
verseness, and admiring the clemency and goodness of Jesus 
Christ, let us entertain this grateful and consoling thought : 
If He was content to be kissed by an apostate, by a sacri- 
legious, obstinate hypocrite, who came with poison on his 
lips to betray Him with a kiss, how much more will He not 
refuse the kiss of one who approaches Him in a penitential 
spirit, with the desire to love and obey Him ? 

my God! who in Thy Incarnation didst vouchsafe to 
give a kiss to my human nature with Thy Divinity, let not 
my unworthiness, I beseech Thee, make Thee reject my 
ardent desires. Jesus, my loving Saviour! in spirit I 
give Thee a thousand kisses, and with every kiss I offer 
Thee my heart. I have given Thee many a treacherous 
kiss. I repent; and now I kiss Thee with humility, as 
a penitent, trusting to Thy mercy for pardon, assistance, 
and salvation. So be it. 
0) St. Luke xxii, 46. 



166 JESUS RECEIVES THE KISS FROM JUDAS 



I shall make frequent use of ejaculatory prayers, which 
are so many affectionate movements and kisses of the heart. 
How many kisses of love I can give Jesus in Holy Com- 
munion ! May each kiss be pure and fervent. 

IV. Judas having saluted Jesus Christ with the name 
of Rabbi, Jesus Christ courteously returns the salutation to 
Judas, calling him friend. Hence it is not unlikely, con- 
sidering His boundless charity, that He also returned him 
the kiss, to touch him with compunction by this loving act. 
But how different was the kiss of the traitor from that 
given in return by the Saviour! Judas, by his kiss, in- 
tended the death of Jesus. Jesus, by His kiss, intends to 
give life to Judas. Jesus Christ accepts His death, signi- 
fied to Him by the kiss of Judas. Judas refuses to accept 
life offered him in the kiss of Jesus Christ. Oh, the 
clemency of Jesus! Oh, the obduracy of Judas! 

Let us reflect again on this salutation, the last effort of 
the zeal and benevolence by which J esus Christ endeavored 
to oblige Judas to be converted. Friend, says He, whereto 
art thou come? 1 unspeakable mercy! He calls him 
friend, by this giving him sufficient assurance of His love. 
By this word friend He warns Him that it is an evil thing 
for him to be an enemy of God, and offers him pardon and 
a renewal of His friendship if he will accept it on the sole 
condition of being sorry for having offended Him. Yet, 
after all the evidences given to him of the love of the In- 
carnate Son of God, Judas, more savage than a wild beast, 
does not think of yielding. The supreme equity, mean- 
while, of the justice of God and the iniquity of Judas are 
both amply demonstrated. 

My soul, let us avail ourselves of the divine charity of 
which Judas failed to take advantage. What difficulties do 
men encounter to gain from the great of this world the 
honor of their friendship? And what is required of me 
in order that I may become the friend of the King of 
Glory, of the Lord of the Universe, my Lord J esus Christ ? 
I have only to wish it. He seeks my love, and from this 

(0 St. Matt, xxvi, 50. 



JESUS APPREHENDED BY HIS ENEMIES 167 



moment He is my friend if I choose. Why then do I still 
delay to enter into the bonds of a holy friendship with Him, 
as this is the only source of happiness for me in time and 
in eternity? 

Oh, immense condescension! Thou, my Jesus, Thou 
content to be my friend ! Thou, the Son of God, to be the 
friend of me, a vile worm ! So it is. My Jesus was sold 
by Judas and was bought by the Jews; yet He belongs 
neither to Judas nor to the Jews, for He was sold and 
bought for me. He is all mine, my Friend, my Beloved! 
and He asks of me nothing but my love. Learn, my soul, 
to value such a friend. Love Him who loves thee. In this 
interchange of love is thy all. He gives thee a kiss of grace 
whenever He inspires thee with a good thought. Corre- 
spond with His love. 

I shall renew my league of friendship with Jesus Christ 
by again resolving never more to displease Him. On the 
contrary, I wish to please Him to the utmost of my ability 
by imitating those virtues which His Passion offers to my 
view. 



CHAPTEE XXV. 

JESUS CHRIST APPREHENDED BY HIS ENEMIES IN THE 
GARDEN. 

I. No sooner has Jesus Christ received the kiss given 
Him by Judas as a signal to the Jews, than they rush vio- 
lently upon Him and surround Him like so many untamed 
beasts. But let us turn away from this savage cruelty and 
attend to the affectionate charity of Jesus. His one con- 
cern is for the safety of the Apostles. He will have the 
fury of His enemies turned against Himself alone. There- 
fore He commands, in the tone of a Master, that those who 
are with Him should not be molested. The good Shepherd 
cares not if the wolves fly at Him and tear Him ; He thinks 
only of the care of His dear flock, to defend and safeguard 
it from harm. 



168 JESUS APPREHENDED BY HIS ENEMIES 



Accordingly, not one of the Apostles is taken and hurt. 
But the Jews are filled with envenomed spite against them, 
for it is probable that as they came to take Jesus as a male- 
factor, they purposed to take also the Apostles as His ac- 
complices. However, it was otherwise ordained by the 
Almighty Man-God, who knows how to make Himself 
obeyed, by whomsoever it may be, in the way and to the 
extent He pleases. 

Consider that what the Saviour did in the garden to 
defend and protect the Apostles He does continually in the 
Church for the protection of the Faithful. On this occa- 
sion the Apostles were our representatives. Oh, what a 
sweet motive is this for us to devote ourselves daily more 
and more to J esus Christ ! The principal enemies of our 
eternal salvation are the devils who, full of envy and ma- 
lignity, are ever thirsting for our ruin. But what have I 
to fear, though all hell should conspire against me, if Jesus 
Christ is with me ? As there is no safety for one who is the 
enemy of God. so no injury can be inflicted upon him who 
truly serves Him. 

most powerful Jesus! to me there can not be a more 
consoling thought than this. When I consider the loving 
care Thou didst take of me even when I lived in sin, I can 
not for a moment fear that Thou wilt deprive me of Thy 
assistance if I follow Thee and love Thee with sincerity. 
How frequently has the devil tempted me, and has not pre- 
vailed because Thou wast present to defend me? How 
often, after my wickedness had led me into sin, would the 
infernal serpent have swallowed me up if Thou hadst not 
guarded me ? I long for the eternal years of the other life 
that I may bless and thank Thee forever. Until then, rely- 
ing fully on Thy goodness, I implore Thee to assist me 
against all the enemies of my soul, — the world, the devil, 
and the flesh. my Jesus! I desire to live under Thy 
shadow, which is the shadow of life, where there is perfect 
security. 

In temptation I should trust in God alone, since all 
help comes from Him only. I often fall, because I confide 



JESUS APPREHENDED BY HIS ENEMIES 169 



in my own resolutions and in myself and have not the 
humility to place my trust in God. 

II. Jesus Christ having given the Jews permission to 
apprehend Him, they rush upon Him; but St. Peter, ani- 
mated with fervent zeal, approaches to defend Him. He 
had brought a sword with him, intending, perhaps, to make 
good his protestation that he would sooner lose his life than 
his faith. He strikes a blow at one of the boldest of the 
miscreants and cuts off his ear, thinking that the defence of 
his divine Master was a work of surpassing merit. 

Nevertheless, though Peter's intention was right and 
good, Jesus Christ reproves him, telling him that if He 
chose to defend Himself, He could easily call to His aid 
twelve legions of angels. 1 The Saviour seeks not to save 
Himself, but to save us. Hence He does not defend Him- 
self — apparently because He could not, but in reality be- 
cause He would not ; and He would not because it was not 
the will of His Eternal Father and because He desired to 
leave to us this example of meekness and patience. 

This act of St. Peter's was not recorded in the Gospel- 
history without reason. I must regard it as a lesson to 
myself. It may often be lawful to follow the impulse of 
nature and to defend ourselves, but oh ! how much more 
praiseworthy it is to bear injuries, as did J esus Christ, than 
to return them. It appears one of the most difficult and 
exalted efforts of heroic virtue not to stand up in our own 
defence when it is in our power; but should we not be 
strengthened for it by one loving glance at Jesus, who, 
being able to do all things, does everything to defend those 
belonging to Him and will have nothing done for His own 
defence ? 

It is a mistake for me to imagine that every slight morti- 
fication of my predominant self-love is a great act of virtue. 
Am I to conceive that the life and honor of a vile worm like 
myself are more precious than the life and honor of the 
Incarnate Son of God, and that I ought to be more jealous 
of them? Occasions are extremely rare, in which I shall 

0) St. Matt, xxvi, 53. 



170 JESUS APPREHENDED BY HIS ENEMIES 

be called upon to defend my life ; but occasions frequently 
arise when I undertake to defend some favorite opinion or 
some point of honor, to ward off some trifling wrong, to 
answer a few sarcastic words. I go so far as to make it a 
matter of conscience to answer those persons whose remarks 
affect me, as if zeal required it, whereas the merit con- 
sists in being silent and supporting all with patience. Ah, 
my Eedeemer, my Lord, my God ! I beg of Thee the grace 
of light and strength which Thou hast merited for me by 
Thy meekness. 

One word withheld for the love of God is worth more 
than a hundred words spoken with effect in my own de- 
fence. To acquire the practice of this maxim I shall re- 
member the example of Jesus Christ. 

III. Jesus Christ, having signified to Peter that He does 
not wish to have arms used in His defence, approaches the 
man who was wounded in the ear. He touches it with His 
hand and radically cures it, showing Himself not only 
gentle but beneficent to His enemies. He might heal the 
man by a tacit order of His will ; but He is pleased to apply 
His hand in order that the miracle may be more evident, 
and also that it might be seen that He who touches and 
heals is Man and God, who heals man with the same hand 
that created him. 

Beyond this can patience and kindness be conceived ? A 
short time before He had worked a miracle of justice when 
He cast His enemies to the ground ; now He works one of 
mercy to heal the wound of one of those who come with the 
greatest assurance to attack him. He displays a miracle 
of His patience, returning good for evil, and giving health 
to him who comes to carry Him off to death. Oh, les- 
sons and instructions for me worthy of this Master ! From 
them I should learn how to conduct myself toward those 
who wish me ill. Jesus Christ, by His words, had taught 
us to do good to those that injure us; now He teaches us 
the same by His example. 

In my own person how many examples of this divine 
beneficence have I beheld! Hitherto, my God! I have 



JESUS APPREHENDED BY HIS ENEMIES 171 

done nothing but offend Thee, and what hast Thou con- 
tinually done to me but good? On Thy side, mercy has 
been doing good for evil; on mine, wickedness has been 
rendering evil for good. Oh, goodness surpassing great in 
Thee ! Oh, stubbornness without limit in me ! How long 
shall I take occasion from Thy goodness to me to increase 
my wickedness against Thee? I am sorry for my excessive 
ingratitude. I beseech Thee, by Thy powerful assistance, 
to make me grateful and to heal the ear of my soul that in 
future I may attentively listen to and obey the voice of 
Thy inspirations, so that life may enter through my ears, 
as death entered by those of Adam. 

Moreover, give me, my J esus ! a heart to imitate Thee 
in doing good to my neighbor. When any one offends me 
I immediately experience the desire of retaliating, and if I 
do not take vengeance I yield to envy. I am sorry for the 
good that he possesses. I rejoice if any evil befalls him. I 
have not the shadow of that charity — patient, kind, gentle, 
— that returns good for evil. And yet this is a perfection 
which my character of Christian demands. Strengthen 
me, then, most loving Saviour ! with Thy grace, to imitate 
Thee, so that for Thy love I may not only wish well, but 
also endeavor to do good, to all that injure me. To Thee, 
Lord! I recommend all those who have in any way 
offended me. Bless them, do them good, and I shall rejoice 
thereat. 

If I have no other way of doing good to those who do or 
who have done evil to me, I shall frequently remember to 
pray to the divine Majesty for each and all of them. This 
is a debt that I must pay ; and, after the example of Jesus 
Christ, I will pay it. 

IV. Peter beholds the meekness, the love, the kindness 
of Jesus Christ in the miracle of the ear cut off and again 
healed in a moment, yet he is not satisfied or convinced that 
the Son of God must, in this ignominious manner, fall into 
the hands of His enemies. Great are the faith and love of 
this Apostle toward His divine Master, and the thought 
that He should die is insupportable to him. J esus does not 



172 



JESUS APPREHENDED BY HIS ENEMIES 



rebuke him, as He had previously done. He only remon- 
strates gently with him, thus: The chalice which My 
Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it? 1 

Keflect, in the first place, that Our Saviour calls His 
Passion a chalice; this chalice which, on account of its 
vastness and bitterness, the Prophet compares to a sea. He 
calls it a chalice, because in His charity all that He is about 
to suffer appears small. To His exceeding thirst an ocean 
of sufferings seems but a cupful, which He eagerly longs 
to drink to the very bottom as though it were filled with 
delicious sweetness. This is a property of love — to count 
all labors, all pains as nothing. Hence, being about to 
suffer and die for our love, He finds the chalice of His 
Passion sweet. 

Consider, again, that Jesus Christ regards His Passion 
as a cup; that is, as a precious, delightful, loving present 
made Him by His Father. The thought that His Father 
has ordained that He should suffer, not driven thereto by 
necessity, but of His free will and of His pure goodness, so 
refreshes Him that He looks upon His Passion as a golden 
cup filled with the most exquisite liquor. What an object 
of imitation, what consolation do I find in it ! Thus must 
I act in the midst of adversity. I must count it a favor, a 
grace, a mercy of my heavenly Father's ; and taking those 
words from the mouth of Jesus Christ, I should repeat 
them with all the affection of my heart : The chalice which 
My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink itf A Father, 
the most loving of fathers, and not less my Father when He 
takes good things from me than when He imparts them. 

Thus should I speak ; but, my God ! I do not. I look 
upon troubles as though they came to me by chance or by 
the wickedness of men, therefore I can not make up my 
mind to bear them. Ah, my Father, who art power, wis- 
dom, goodness itself! fill my mind with Thy Spirit, in- 
flame my heart with Thy love, so that in all my tribulations 
I may remember Thee and accept them from Thy adorable 

(0 St. John xviii, 11, 



JESUS APPREHENDED BY HIS ENEMIES 173 



hand, enduring them willingly for mv own salvation and 
for Thy glory. 

A day never passes in which something does not occur to 
wound my self-love. I shall consider it a pleasure to bear 
all, if I acquire a determined habit of elevating my heart 
to God and being resigned. 

V. We should remark with what serenity of heart and 
cheerfulness of countenance Jesus Christ speaks to Judas, 
to the Apostles, to the Jews, when on the point of being 
seized. Even now, as if all this was nothing to Him per- 
sonally, He thinks only of doing good to souls by His doc- 
trine, His miracles and example. Among the leaders of the 
party who are come to take Him, He sees the rulers of the 
synagogue, and gently reminds them of the lessons of salva- 
tion which He had given to them in the Temple. Are you 
come out as to a robber, with swords and staves to appre- 
hend Me? I was daily with you in the Temple teaching, 
and you did not lay hands on Me. But that the Scriptures 
may be fulfilled. 1 

He says enough in this last instruction to enable them 
to see that He is God. But they neither remember His last 
benefits, nor are they moved by the present miracles and 
benefits of His clemency and love. Blinded by their own 
malice, on the very night on which they have celebrated 
their Passover — the anniversary of their deliverance from 
Egypt — they persevere obstinately in their rage against 
their divine Deliverer and become more and more exas- 
perated. 

Oh, wicked J ews ! I should rather exclaim, much more 
wicked wretch that I am ! How often at the moment that 
some temptation or my own concupiscence has been urging 
me to sin have I had lights of grace to remind me of the 
presence and the goodness of God! Lights that brought 
before me the grievousness of sin and should have re- 
strained me from committing sin ; and yet, obstinate and 
rebellious against divine inspirations, like the most wicked 
reprobates, I have sinned! I felt remorse of conscience. 

(0 St. Mark xiv, 48, 49. 



174 JESUS APPREHENDED BY HIS ENEMIES 

I recognized Thy noble gifts, my God ! I saw that I was 
doing an evil thing to offend Thee; and notwithstand- 
ing all this, in spite of Thy assisting grace, through pure 
malice, I have offended Thee. 

most loving Father ! how dare I look up to Thee, after 
such ingratitude and perverseness on my part as to offend 
Thee at the very time in which I was experiencing the 
effects of Thy bounteous love? I deserve no mercy; but 
Thou, most holy Saviour! have deserved it for me. By 
Thy merits I implore it. I hope for it. Not only do I 
hope for the pardon of my past transgressions, but, more- 
over, that Thou wilt strengthen me by Thy powerful help 
to sin no more. Continue Thy mercy to me, I beseech 
Thee, and incline me to esteem it as I should and to turn 
it advantageously to Thy glory. 

If I can not avoid sins of frailty I shall, at least, en- 
deavor to avoid sins of malice committed with advertence, 
since it is these sins against conscience enlightened by 
God that bear the stamp of ingratitude. 

VI. Jesus Christ would never have been taken by the 
Jews if He had not so chosen, and if He had not allowed 
Himself to be apprehended what would have become of us ? 
He entered the garden on purpose that He might be taken, 
i^ccordingly, He gives them the permission, which they have 
no sooner obtained than they attack Him with diabolical 
fury. They fear He may escape from them. Therefore 
they bind Him as securely as ropes and chains can bind. 
All are in the greatest glee. All crowd upon Him to lay 
hold of Him. Each one is anxious to boast that He had a 
hand in taking Him. They strike Him with their fists, 
with staves, with swords. They throw Him down, they 
trample on Him and use Him as if He were the worst of 
malefactors. 

Open now thy eyes, my soul! and behold thy divine 
Saviour in the midst of all these outrages. He neither re- 
sists nor defends Himself nor shows resentment, but lets 
them treat Him as they will, as if He were altogether weak 
and without spirit. The Jews, full of hatred and rage, 



JESUS APPREHENDED BY HIS ENEMIES 175 

congratulate themselves on having Him in their hands. 
Jesus Christ, also, all love for His heavenly Father and for 
us, congratulates Himself that the hour of His Passion has 
come, — that hour for which He has so ardently longed and 
sighed. 

Oh, love of J esus, love true to the last proof ! I am the 
guilty one, the sinner who deserves shame and punishment. 
How is it then, my Lord and God ! that Thou dost submit 
to all these pains and ignominies due to me? How is it 
that the just, the holy, the innocent and spotless Son of 
God should pay the debts of guilty man, and at the price 
of so much dishonor and such outrages? I admire, adore 
and thank Thy boundless charity, most sweet Saviour! 
Thy love, and nothing else, has brought Thee to this piti- 
able condition ; that love which Thou hast for me. And, in 
return, what dost Thou expect for this excess of love? 

Understand, my soul ! that all that Jesus Christ suffers, 
and that He will suffer throughout the course of His Pas- 
sion, is intended to make us love Him in return. Though 
He should have suffered nothing for us, He would have 
been, for other reasons without number, most deserving of 
our love. How, then, shall we not love Him when we think 
of His most bitter sufferings ? Ah, my Jesus ! I am grieved 
that I have not loved Thee sooner, but I will love Thee now. 
And since Thou hast Thyself inspired me with the desire 
to love Thee, I ask of Thee, with humble earnestness, the 
grace to love Thee with a sincere mind and a pure heart 
and as much as Thou desirest to be loved. I love Thee at 
present in desire, and I beseech Thee to grant me perfect 
fulfilment of my desire. 

I shall not be content with these general expressions of 
my love: I shall proceed to particulars. I behold what 
J esus Christ has done for love of me. What shall I do and 
suffer for love of Him? 

VII. What a marvel to see darkness not dispersed in 
presence of a brilliant light ! Thus is it with the unhappy 
Jews who surround Jesus Christ. Instead of being en- 
lightened, they become more blind. No one can describe 



176 JE8U8 APPREHENDED BY HIS ENEMIES 

the ill-usage which they inflict upon Him. They bind Him 
around the body, around His neck and hands. What a 
painful affliction for J esus to feel Himself bound as though 
He had been taken by force ; whereas He surrendered Him- 
self to them of His own free will, and He is perfectly ready 
to go of Himself whithersoever they please ! For a man to 
suffer and die with his hands bound is always a disgrace, 
because he appears as if he were a cowardly, reluctant suf- 
ferer, not a valiant one. Shall we imagine that Our Saviour 
was insensible to this great dishonor placed upon Him ? 

But it is not these bands that afflict Him the most ; with 
the Prophet, He sees Himself bound around from head to 
foot with far more painful cords. All the sins of men, from 
Adam to the end of the world, linked together, form a 
chain so long, so hard, as to quite unnerve and crush Him, 
so that He can with difficulty support Himself. However, 
He endures all this with fortitude, since it is by this very 
suffering that this chain must be broken. To this end He 
consented to be bound, that He might unbind our souls. 
There was no other means to break the chains of our sins, 
but to allow Himself to be loaded with chains. 

Ah, benediction, praise, and thanksgiving forever be to 
Thy charity, most mighty Saviour ! who, by enduring those 
painful bonds on Thy body, hast loosened and set free my 
soul from the slavery beneath which it lay. I was free by 
Thy merits, in which I participated in Baptism; but I 
have bound myself anew, of my own accord, by my sins, 
and these bonds can not be broken except by penance and 
contrition. Apply then, again, good Jesus ! Thy merits 
to my heart to make it contrite, so that it may melt with 
grief for having offended Thee. 

Break, also, by the graces which Thou hast merited for 
me, the cords and chains of those evil habits that keep me 
enslaved to my passions; and grant that there may no 
longer be any bonds upon my soul but the sweet and lovely 
bonds of Thy most pure love which keep me united with 
and most intimately attached to Thee, resigned in all things 
to Thy divine will and in all things obedient to Thy divine 



JESUS APPREHENDED BY HIS ENEMIES 177 

Majesty. Thy love for me was the cause of Thy Passion. 
May the effect and fruit of that Passion in me be love for 
Thee. 

I shall offer to Jesus my soul and body and implore Him 
to bind me wholly with the bond of perfection, which is 
holy charity, that I may have no further power to exert 
myself for anything that may be displeasing to Him. 

VIII. While contemplating Jesus Christ loaded with 
cords, chains and ignominies, we must reflect that this is in 
fulfilment of what He himself foretold, in conformity with 
the words of the Prophet, that He should be taken captive 
by sinners — and for no cause but our sins. And how 
has the Almighty been taken and reduced to such straits? 
It is not the Jews who have taken Him by force of arms, 
but divine charity in its unspeakable mystery. It is not 
hostile force which has bound Him against His will, but 
Himself who has thus freely willed and ordered it. 

Come near, my soul, and behold Thy Lord thus ill-treated 
by these miscreants. Reflect and believe that He has thus 
left Himself to the mercy — or the no mercy — of sinners, 
for no reason but the salvation of sinners. Let us by rev- 
erent thought enter into His most sacred body : we shall see 
in what manner, while He still keeps shut up within Him 
those interior mental pains which He has conceived a short 
time previously, He now offers to His Eternal Father for 
us bodily pains as well. He tenderly kisses His bonds and 
rejoices that His holy Humanity should be deprived of 
liberty in order that we may breathe again the liberty of 
the sons of God. He thinks not of how He may escape and 
be free, but only how He may free and save us. 

immense goodness ! excess of charity ! infinite 
mercy ! These bonds of Thine, good Jesus ! are salutary 
binding for me to bind up and heal my wounds. Thy 
weakness is my strength. What thanks can I render to 
Thee for all this love? Here is my heart. Gladly would 
it love and thank Thee, but what can it do of itself? Do 
Thou give it strength to do all that pleaseth Thee. 

Oh that once only, my Jesns ! Thou hadst been delivered 



178 



FLIGHT OF THE APOSTLES 



into the hands of sinners, when the impious took Thee in 
the garden ; but now and always Thon art seized and mal- 
treated by sinners. How often have I, instead of compas- 
sionating Thee thus bound, rather tightened Thy bonds by 
adding to my sins ! I could not have acted toward Thee 
with more wickedness, with more villainy than I have done. 
I grieve and repent for all my wickedness and crave Thy 
mercy. 

In the meantime, my soul, hearken well to what Thy God 
says to thee. He wishes to be taken by thee, but in such a 
manner as to save and not to ruin thee. The wisdom and 
holiness of God can not be taken by iniquity, but by charity. 
If I love God I shall be all to my God, and God will be all 
mine. Holy Ghost, Thou who art the love of the Father 
and the Son, impart to me this love ! 

I shall endeavor to make this love practical by frequent 
acts of contrition, of humiliation in the presence of the 
divine Majesty, of resignation to His will, of abnegation of 
my self-love. 



CHAPTEE XXVI. 

FLIGHT OF THE APOSTLES AFTER THE APPREHENSION OF 
JESUS CHRIST. 

I. The Apostles, having witnessed the almighty power 
of Jesus Christ in the garden, when He cast His enemies 
to the ground with a word and healed the wounded ear by 
a touch of His hand, imagined that none of the J ews could 
prevail against Him. But when they see that He gives 
them power and permission to take Him, and even yields 
Himself up into their hands, they lose courage and imme- 
diately take to flight. They owed it to their fidelity and 
love to Him at least to follow and sympathize with Him, 
as they had done on other occasions, and having witnessed 
His miracles, they should have trusted in His divine power; 



FLIGHT OF THE APOSTLES 



179 



but they allowed themselves to be vanquished by cowardly 
fear. 

Jesus Christ is, therefore, left alone in the midst of 
outrages — forsaken by the very persons whom He had loved 
and favored with the most striking partiality. Peter, 
James, and John were perfectly willing to be His com- 
panions, to enjoy the splendor of His glory on Mount 
Tabor, and all the Apostles had continued with Him in the 
supper room, but no one accompanies Him in His Passion ; 
they all behave toward Him as if they had never known 
Him. Oh, the weakness and ingratitude of these thankless 
hearts ! 

But let us turn our zeal against ourself . my God ! my 
mind has not the power to recollect the graces and favors 
that I have unceasingly received from Thee. Neither 
father nor friend, nor any one whoever it may be, has had 
love for me like Thine. Thy charity is eternal, immense, 
unsurpassed. And yet how often have I turned my back 
on Thee, through human respect or a vain fear of some 
temporal inconvenience ? In prosperity I can easily make 
it convenient to follow Thee ; but when adversity comes my 
patience and resignation fail, and my cowardice is such 
that the slight trouble of conquering some little passion, of 
mortifying some trifling inclination, alarms me. I accuse 
myself of being the most ungrateful of ungrateful mortals, 
and I am grieved for my ingratitude. 

Give me strength, my God ! that in following Thee I 
may, for the future, be afraid of nothing. Let me no longer 
be of the number of those who stand by Thee as long as 
Thou regalest them with consolations and sweetnesses but 
leave Thee at the first taste of bitterness. Unite me, bind 
me to Thyself by faith, hope, and charity, so that nothing 
in the world may ever separate me from Thee and that 
I may never again be ungrateful to Thee. my poor 
soul, who has fled from thy Saviour, come back, turn to 
Him again. He waits for thee, that He may have mercy on 
thee. Fear not that He will fly from thee, for He is bound 
and the bands of His love hold Him fast, hold Him more 



180 



FLIGHT OF THE APOSTLES 



strongly than all those that Jewish rage has cast about Him. 

My God is no less my God in the night of tribulation than 
in the daylight of consolation. Therefore I shall bless Him 
at all times and shall be faithful in His service, obeying 
my conscience in spite of all human respect whatsoever. 

II. Our blessed Lord had foretold that all His Apostles 
would be surprised by temptation and, their faith failing, 
that they would forsake Him like timid sheep scattered 
hither and thither when their shepherd is attacked by some 
wild beast. We must consider well that the Apostles, when 
their divine Master had warned them beforehand of what 
would happen, were all shocked at the very thought and 
protested with ardent zeal that they would indeed die with 
Him, but never could they be forced to abandon Him. 

Thus they spoke, in the first fervor with which they had 
been filled after receiving the Blessed Eucharist and 
strengthened with the divine word of God. When they 
came to act, how quickly was their fervor cooled! Fear 
entered into their hearts and poor human nature was left to 
its own frail weakness. Thus it happens with respect to all 
those who promise themselves great things, trusting more to 
passing transports of fervor springing from themselves than 
to the assistance of God. Do I not frequently see this very 
thing practically illustrated in myself? 

More than a thousand times, in my prayers, Confessions, 
and Communions, I, too, have made fine resolutions rather 
to suffer or to die than be separated from the love of J esus 
Christ. Whence is it that, more than a thousand times, I 
also have failed and forsaken Him when some slight temp- 
tation has arisen? If I look well into myself I shall find 
the reason of my failures to be that I depend too much on 
myself, and have little or no thought of placing my con- 
fidence in the help of God. Grace is refused to the proud 
and given to the humble. 

Is it possible that, after such sad experience, I should 
never learn my own want of stability and constancy ? It is 
in this point that I must diligently endeavor to gain a 
knowledge of my wretched state. This will be more ad- 



FLIGHT OF TEE APOSTLES 



181 



vantageous to me than if I made my head a repository of 
every variety of knowledge. Oh, how vain and roving and 
fleeting and voluble is my heart! I have palpable proofs 
that in leaning on myself I lean on vanity. When shall I 
be rid, my God! of this lurking pride? I fly to Thee, 
I abandon myself to Thee ; in Thee I place all my trust. I 
know that Thou wilt not forsake me if I do not first for- 
sake Thee. I beseech Thee, then, assist me by Thy grace 
that I may never turn from Thee for anything in the world. 
Neither shall I leave Thee, nor wilt Thou leave me, if I 
remain grounded in humility and in the true knowledge of 
myself. 

In all my resolutions I shall be careful to depend on the 
help of God alone, being persuaded that I shall never keep 
them except by trusting altogether in His grace. 

III. The flight of the Apostles might have been ex- 
pected from the time in which Jesus Christ commanded 
them to watch and pray for strength to resist temptation, 
and they, being overcome by miserable sloth, lazily yielded 
to sleep, — so true it is that the man who grows weary and 
is negligent in prayer will soon depart from the path of 
virtue. The Apostles are an example of this. After prom- 
ising and protesting that they would always stand by their 
divine Master, so as even to suffer death with Him, they 
leave Him and are scattered up and down at the very time 
that they should follow Him the most faithfully. Their 
dispersion is a natural consequence of their previous sloth- 
ful neglect. 

It must be that temptations shall come — and they will 
come unexpectedly. Of ourselves what strength have we to 
overcome them ? God alone can help us. He has promised 
His assistance to none but those who humbly pray for it. 
Consequently, it follows that prayer is necessary in order 
not to yield to temptation. Experience teaches that the 
man who is negligent in recommending himself to God will 
give way and fall. This happens by the just permission of 
God Himself, who, however, never abandons any one unless 
he deserves to be abandoned. 



182 



FLIGHT OF THE APOSTLES 



What, then, shall become of me? I understand these 
truths and do not practise them. I acknowledge that this 
is the reason why I have been so often overcome and have 
fallen when temptations have come upon me; it is because 
I have neglected prayer ; or, if I have prayed sometimes, it 
has been with a distracted mind, with a cold heart and 
without perseverance, because I have been quickly wearied. 
Ah, what blindness and stupidity ! 

If I continue in this way, not valuing prayer, what terror 
will seize upon me at the hour of death when I shall see all 
the graces merited for me by J esus Christ, and shall also see 
that the Eternal Father was perfectly willing to grant me 
them if I had only had humility to ask for them. More- 
over, I shall see that my not having received them will be 
imputed to my not having desired to have them, because I 
did not choose to pray for them. 

Ah, enlighten and inflame my mind, my God! In 
Thee it is supreme goodness that Thou art willing to give 
me grace if I but ask for it. It is pride and folly in me that 
I will not even ask for it in order to obtain it. If Thou 
detesteth pride wherever it exists, but more than all in the 
poor, how hateful to Thee must I be, — I who am so poor 
and yet so proud. Have pity, have mercy on me, my 
God! 

The humble man knows his own necessity and is not 
ashamed to ask for charity. Therefore I shall beg of J esus 
Christ to give me holy humility. The exercise of this 
humility will, of itself, be an excellent prayer. 

IV. It must have been a bitter affliction to Jesus Christ 
to see Himself forsaken by His friends and left alone in the 
hands of His enemies. With good reason does He complain 
of it by the mouth of His Prophets, in many places break- 
ing forth into lamentations; comparing Himself at one 
time to a wretched hut, open to the winds and hail and with 
no one to dwell in it ; at another, to a city uninhabited and 
laid waste. In fact, what a dishonor was it to the Son of 
God that His attendants should be afraid to follow Him ; 
that His dearest, most faithful friends, chosen by Himself 



FLIGHT OF TEE APOSTLES 



183 



and elevated to the highest dignities in His Church, 
should take to flight, like cowards, at the very time in which 
they should have relied on His almighty word and felt se- 
cure in His company. 

However, there is no doubt that J esus Christ is far more 
distressed for the Apostles who abandon Him than for 
Himself who is abandoned. His ardent love for them can 
not but cause Him profound grief on their account, know- 
ing, as He does, the immense evil accomplished by any one 
that forsakes his Lord and Saviour. loving Shepherd! 
who carest for Thy flock and art afflicted more for their 
dangers than for Thine own. 

I consider Thy grief, my Jesus ! to have been more on 
my account than for Thy Apostles — since, after all, their 
flight admits of some excuse, as it was caused by a great 
and sudden alarm, so that I should regard it rather as a 
warning to us to be on our guard in certain circumstances, 
and we should reckon them more worthy of compassion than 
of blame. I represent them to myself , bursting into tears 
and sighs of sorrow at leaving Thee, at the very moment of 
their flight. But what excuse is there for me, what com- 
passion is due to me, for the many times that I have, 
through pure malice, forsaken Thee by turning away from 
Thy laws, Thy doctrine, Thy example? 

It is I, my Saviour! who am the cause of Thy most 
severe afflictions. What, then, remains for me to do but to 
ask Thy pardon in a spirit of penance and sorrow ? Would 
that I had never forsaken Thee, my God! With Thy 
help I shall never more leave or forsake Thee. Thou art 
the way, the truth, and the life. What must he expect who 
turns from Thee, but to fall into precipices, to walk in 
darkness, and to die ? Ah, my Jesus ! give me in future 
the desire to fly from sin with holy, fervent haste, more 
than if it were a poisonous reptile, and from the occasions 
of sin as well. This would be a flight glorious, worthy of a 
Christian, — a flight that would do honor to Thy name. For 
the grace thus to fly I shall forever be thankful to Thee. 



184 



FLIGHT OF TEE APOSTLES 



Never have I been so happy and peaceful as when I have 
remained true to Jesus. Therefore I shall resolve always to 
keep close to Him by His grace, as nowhere else can I be 
so secure. 

V. We can not suppose it to have been by accident that 
Jesus Christ was left alone without a friend to stand by 
Him in His Passion, but to have been ordained from on 
high by divine Wisdom. At His birth He had the society 
of the shepherds ; at the marriage-feast, at His Transfigura- 
tion, in His preaching, in His miracles, at the Supper, He 
had with Him sometimes Apostles, sometimes disciples ; but 
when He was about to accomplish the Eedemption of the 
world by His Passion He chose to be alone, as His Prophets 
had foretold. 

He was alone, undergoing His mental passion, when He 
prayed and sweat blood for us all. Again He chooses to be 
alone when going to suffer in His body for us all, since ex- 
clusively to Him belongs this work — the greatest that God's 
wisdom can bring about. It is He alone that can save us 
by Himself. Hence, though He had companions during 
His life, He is pleased to have none now that He is going 
to seal the title-deed of our salvation with His death. And 
it is fitting that it should be so. For who could share with 
the Saviour in the salvation of others since each one has 
need of salvation for himself? 

Reflect, my soul! that Jesus Christ alone was able and 
alone has chosen to be thy Saviour. Consequently, He 
alone must be the one object of Thy love. He has suffered 
for thee, all alone. No one joined Him in His sufferings 
for thee. Therefore does He alone deserve to be loved with- 
out any division of thy love in favor of others. 

Yes, most lovely Jesus ! if I had a million of hearts I 
ought to sacrifice and devote them all to Thee alone, because 
Thou alone art my Creator, Thou alone art my Redeemer, 
to whom I am and shall be eternally indebted for my en- 
tire being and for my salvation. And yet, ungrateful crea- 
ture that I am, having but one and that a very little heart, 
I do not give Thee even the whole of it ! I repent of the 



FLIGHT OF TEE APOSTLES 



185 



love that I have had throughout my life for vanity. This 
love belonged to Thee, and I have unworthily squandered 
it with wanton injustice. When shall I, in truth, begin to 
love Thee? 

I know my obligations ; what afflicts me is, that I do not, 
in my affections, correspond with the light of my under- 
standing. Empty my heart, I beseech Thee, of all other 
love, that it may be detached and filled with Thy love. By 
Thy love for me make me learn the love that I ought to 
have for Thee, and make me love Thee with all my mind, 
with all my heart, with all my strength, and above all 
things. 

I shall examine my heart to see what my affection is for 
creatures, and I shall pray to the Lord to remove everything 
that obstructs and diminishes His holy love in me. 

VI. The Apostles fly away terrified; but, like poor 
orphans who have lost their father, they turn again and 
again to look at Jesus Christ, their eyes filled with tears, 
and they compassionate Him. St. Peter is more confused 
than the rest. He, too, flies, though he is the boldest and 
the most firm in faith. On one side, he is urged on by fear 
of his own danger ; on the other, restrained by his love for 
his divine Master; till, in this perplexity, not knowing 
whether to follow or to abandon Him, his love persuades 
Him to follow Him though his fear causes him to do so 
from afar. 

Peter's feelings on this occasion appear worthy of praise. 
He was hesitating between his piety, which drew him one 
way, and his weak nature, which drove him another. We 
might look upon him as fervent and constant, since that at 
a distance at least he follows while the others fly altogether, 
if it were not that we remembered the great promise that 
he had made with so much more resolution than the others 
— of being faithful in following Jesus Christ even to death. 
Considering these protests, we must say that his withdrawal 
and standing thus afar off is a sign of deplorable luke- 
warmness, exceedingly displeasing to Jesus, and a sad fore- 
cast of his three falls which are soon to occur. 



186 



FLIGHT OF TEE APOSTLES 



Here I behold the portrait of a tepid soul, — that is, pre- 
cisely of my soul. In the service of God I also would fain 
obey the dictates of the spirit, and at the same time gratify 
the inclinations of sense. I would fain satisfy both con- 
science and concupiscence, — follow Jesus Christ, but at a 
distance, not desiring to keep close to Him. I wish not to 
offend Him by sin, but at the same time I would suffer no 
inconvenience in imitating His holy virtues, allowing my- 
self whatever can in any way be permitted and thus remov- 
ing all question of evangelical mortification. But these 
are vain, deceitful notions. My languor will soon become 
mortal ; I can not long continue in it without some grievous 
falls. Unhappily I have experienced this in the past. 
Why do I expose myself to experience it again to my cost ? 

My Jesus, my God! to Thee I recommend myself, beg- 
ging Thee to give me spiritual strength and resolution, so 
that I may be able to stand by Thee always; make me en- 
deavor not only never to offend Thee, but, moreover, to 
imitate Thee perfectly. My love for Thee amounts to very 
little. Hence it is that being ruled by human respect, by 
the flesh and the world, I so frequently waver and stumble. 
Increase and strengthen me in Thy love; then I shall be 
wholly occupied throughout my life in the practice of 
virtue, after Thy example and following Thy teachings. 
my God ! who hast already presented me with such abundant 
mercies, depart not far from me that I may not remove far 
from Thee. Draw near to me, that I may come more and 
more closely to Thee and remain with Thee. 

I should, and I desire to, belong entirely to God. I shall 
never succeed in doing this so long as I am guided by cer- 
tain maxims of human respect, which I call considerations 
of discretion and prudence. I shall reflect on this human 
respect and learn to despise it. 



JESUS LED TO THE HOUSE OF ANNAS 187 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

JESUS CHRIST LED FROM THE GARDEN TO THE HOUSE OF 

ANNAS. 

I. There is no record to be found of a highway robber 
or assassin, or any other kind of malefactor, who, having 
fallen into the hands of justice, has been treated with such 
barbarous cruelty as Jesus Christ is now treated with by 
the merciless Jews. The idea they had formed of the true 
Son of God is that He is a sorcerer in league with the devil, 
and that if He is not securely guarded He will be able to 
escape by diabolical power. Having also been warned by 
Judas to hold and lead Him away with every precaution, we 
may conceive with how many cords, ropes, and chains they 
bind and straiten Him in every limb to make sure of their 
prey. J esus Christ, as the Prophets had of old represented 
Him, is like a meek lamb ; while the Jews act toward Him 
like rabid dogs, wild bulls, raging lions, or any of the 
fiercest and most savage beasts. This likewise is in con- 
formity with what the Prophets had foretold of them. Who 
could enumerate either the acts of virtue practised by Jesus 
Christ or the movements of hatred, rage, and fury, to which 
the wretched J ews abandoned themselves ? 

See, then, my soul, behold the Almighty, the Saint of 
saints, in their midst as though He were the most wicked of 
men and unable to defend Himself. He looks around to 
see if there are any of His acquaintances following to com- 
fort and assist Him. He finds not even one. Where are 
now the angels who once ministered to Him in the desert ? 
Where the Apostles? Where the crowds that hailed Him 
as a great Prophet? Where is Mary, His most holy 
Mother? There is no one to speak to Him or to interest 
himself in His behalf. How is this ? If I reflect, I shall 
understand that Jesus is in this condition because He wills 
it, and that which makes Him will it is nothing but the 
love He bears to me. This is true, most true ; and is it not 
enough to move my affections? 

my Jesus, how great is my debt of gratitude to Thy in- 



188 JESUS LED TO THE HOUSE OF ANNAS 

comparable charity ! These outrages inflicted on Thee were 
due to me, a most wicked sinner, in punishment of the 
grievous crimes with which I have offended Thy divine 
Majesty. Therefore how comes it that Thou, the just and 
innocent, dost endure the pains that I, who am the guilty 
culprit, deserve? Loving Saviour! I acknowledge that it 
is Thy love which causes this. But how couldst Thou place 
Thy noble affections on so ungrateful and rebellious a 
creature, who has continued so long to offend Thee even 
after having been redeemed by Thee? Now, at least, I 
beseech Thee, let me never more offend Thee ! Let me love 
Thee now, at last, as I am bound to love Thee! Let me 
now, at last, compassionate and thank Thee as I should. 
Let me at least be grieved to behold Thy loving sweet- 
ness, so little loved by the generality of men and by myself. 
Satisfy, my God, these my desires by Thy grace! 

My love for Jesus Christ shall urge me to follow His 
example. I shall not resent what is said or done to annoy 
me, and I shall be meek and patient in supporting wrongs 
and contradictions for His love. 

II. The Jews are full of bitterness, hatred, and rage 
against Jesus Christ on account of the bad opinion that they 
have formed of Him and of His doctrine, which is opposed 
to their wicked ways, and on account of His miracles, which 
they ascribe to magic. But their fury is intensified, and 
they bind Him still more tightly and treat Him still worse 
because they are instigated and urged on by their leaders, 
who are present. Moreover, their barbarity against Him is 
marvelonsly increased because they are stimulated and 
goaded on by the devils, who are wild with envy and fury 
against Him, fearing that He is the Messiah come to re- 
deem the world. 

They all attack and surround Him in every possible man- 
ner that they can think of, and they press so closely upon 
Him that He can scarcely breathe. Hence He complains, 
by the Prophet, that in this His bitter Passion He is like a 
man drowned beneath the water, which drenches Him from 
without and penetrates within Him. And what does Jesus 



JESUS LED TO THE ROUSE OF ANNAS 189 

Christ under this deluge of water — that is, in the midst of 
all these pains and ignominies? These very waters He 
employs to wash and cleanse our souls from all that foul- 
ness and filth that render them so disgustful to the divine 
Majesty. 

Jesus, who art all sweetness, Thou amid so much bit- 
terness ! Oh, grant me, by the merits of Thy patience and 
penance which Thou didst exercise for me, that I may also 
be watered and bedewed with tears of sincere contrition for 
my sins. This is the fruit that I desire to see of the love 
that I owe to Thee above all creatures ; namely, that I may 
hate and detest sin above all other evils, grieving over those 
sins which I have already committed and, for the time to 
come, living with such care and circumspection that I may 
commit no more. I present to Thee my desires. Who but 
Thyself, with the assistance of Thy holy grace, can impart 
to me the strength to put them into execution? 

my most amiable Saviour ! to me it seems an impossi- 
bility that a soul should reflect in the light of faith on Thy 
dolorous Passion and not grieve for having sinned. And 
yet, dreadful is the thought ! I see in my soul a multitude 
of iniquities and rebellions which I should repent of and 
grieve for even to the rending of my very heart from my 
bosom. And, still, I have neither repentance nor sorrow. 
What is this but a mark of reprobation and damnation in 
my regard? Can it be, my dear Jesus! that this soub 
for whose salvation Thou wert pleased to undergo so bitter 
a Passion, is to be damned? Ah, I beseech Thee! turn 
into bitterness for me all the sweetness of my sinful pleas- 
ures that have been to Thee so bitter, and grant that, with 
Thee, I may bitterly lament my most wicked life. 

If I should be able to reap no other fruit from the Pas- 
sion of Jesus Christ I shall at least reap this, which is the 
most suitable and proper fruit to be drawn from it — that 
is, a resolution to fly from and hate sin, and all dangerous 
occasions of sin. 

III. The Prophet had foretold that the Saviour would 
be filled with reproaches, and this prophecy has been per- 



190 JESUS LED TO THE HOUSE OF ANNAS 



fectly accomplished. If we reflect on the life of Jesus 
Christ during the three years of His public ministry, we 
may say that He was fed with reproaches in the persecu- 
tions which He suffered from the Jews, who were always 
intent on dishonoring Him with calumnies in order to dis- 
credit Him with the people. But, during the period of His 
Passion, beginning with His apprehension in the garden, 
He was not fed only, but He was saturated with reproaches, 
so immense was the number that He was forced to endure. 

Behold, my soul! thy loving Eedeemer, dragged with 
violence out of the garden. These ruffians goad Him on 
without mercy ; while He follows them meekly and without 
resistance. What outrages, what insults do not these in- 
human wretches heap upon Him in this journey. They 
buffet Him, they kick Him, they strike Him with their 
staves, with their fists, to hurry Him on. They throw Him 
to the ground, then they fall on Him and trample Him 
beneath their feet. 

And what passed in the mind pf Jesus as He felt Him- 
self thus trodden under foot and abused by this rabble, His 
head and face covered with bruises? As He beholds with 
the eyes of His mind His Majesty and holiness thus tram- 
pled upon He inwardly grieves. He looks on all this con- 
tumely as so many fearful outbreaks of the wrath of God 
punishing the sins of the world in the person of His sacred 
Humanity, and He offers it all to His Eternal Father, 
imploring mercy for us all. But I must remark that He 
asks for mercy in a special manner for me, as if there were 
no other sinner in existence besides myself and I alone had 
need to be redeemed by Him. 

Oh, the patience, humility, and charity of Jesus! I 
adore Thee, Thou most meek Lamb of God, and bless 
Thee for all this humiliation and abjection undergone for 
me ! I am grieved that I also have trodden Thee under foot 
as often as I have sinned, and I confess that my malice has 
far surpassed that of the Jews. I offer to Thee the merits 
of Thy patient endurance, which was exceeding great, be- 
fitting and truly worthy of Thy character as Man-God. By 



JESUS LED TO THE HOUSE OF ANNAS 191 



these same merits I beseech Thee to assist me, that I may 
meet with something painful for Thy love. 

Ah, my Jesus ! enlighten and inflame with Thy love this 
heart of mine which is so ungrateful, hard, and rebellious. 
Grant that I may avail myself of Thy Passion to offer to 
Thee due satisfaction for my sins, and to imitate Thee in 
the practice of those virtues which are most agreeable to 
Thee. Let me only be possessed with Thy love, and I shall 
do everything that pleases Thee and avoid everything that 
displeases Thee. 

I shall mortify my anger, resentment, and the spirit of 
revenge when I meet with any injury or suffer some dis- 
pleasure. I shall offer my displeasures to J esus Christ and 
I shall accept them as a penance for my sins. 

IV. Consider, my soul, in detail, the order and the 
circumstances of that journey which Jesus Christ has to 
make from the garden to the city of Jerusalem, and all the 
tokens of hatred and malignity that mark it. Judas goes 
in advance of the rest, eagerly pressing forward to lay his 
hands on the thirty pieces of silver. They yield to him the 
honor of being the head and chief of the troop; as, in 
truth, he is above them all in wickedness and treachery. 
The soldiery follow, and next to them comes Jesus Christ 
with bowed head and hands tied behind him, exhausted and 
out of breath, all but fainting from the violence with which 
they push Him on, surrounded by the rulers and their 
servants, who form a rear-guard to prevent His escape. 

At the gate of the city stands a crowd of people looking 
out for Him, and each one loads Him with one false charge 
or another as though He were guilty of every manner of 
crime. Jesus Christ hears all, and in the midst of the re- 
proaches that are cast upon Him from all directions He 
humbles Himself and feels as if He were a good-for-noth- 
ing, broken potsherd. He receives all this foul-mouthed 
abuse as so much punishment due for our sins. 

Beneath the countless blows of His enemies He takes not 
one step in this journey but what is ordained by Himself 
to set us free from the enemies of our eternal salvation, to 



192 JESUS LED TO THE HOUSE OF ANNAS 

reclaim us from the way of vice and perdition, and to ad- 
vance us on the path of virtue toward Paradise. Lord 
of Hosts, strong and mighty, I owe Thee thanks without 
measure for Thy boundless love! But how shall I ever 
praise and thank Thee as Thou deservest; I, who, in pres- 
ence of Thy august Majesty, am but a vile worm? King 
of Glory, let Thine own power praise Thee, Thine own wis- 
dom, Thine own ineffable, superabounding goodness ! 

For my part, my Jesus ! I have no desire but to give 
Thee praise by following Thy steps and imitating Thee. 
Until now I have followed after vanity, and in this way of 
iniquity I have not been wanting in courage to do eviL 
But, oh, how weak and faint I feel myself in doing good ! 
Bind me, I beseech Thee, with one of Thy cords and draw 
me after Thee. Direct and perfect my efforts in Thy holy 
service, so that I may never again stray from the right road 
either in thought or affection. My bad habits have ener- 
vated me and deprived me of strength. Thy mercy and 
Thy grace alone can renew it. 

V. my soul ! follow Jesus Christ thy Lord through the 
streets of Jerusalem. It is night, but so many are the 
lanterns and torches lighted around Him that one may yet 
behold how tortured and crushed He is by the cruel 
treatment He receives at every step. The impious rabble 
that lead Him lift up their voice with cries of exultation, to 
give notice that He is taken. They clap their hands with 
joy. They glory over their prey. They make a mockery 
of Him before all, with words of ridicule and scorn, point- 
ing to Him with their fingers as if to ask the beholders if 
He at all resembles the Saviour of the world. 

The doors and windows of the houses are crowded with 
people gazing at Him with curious looks, but not one casts 
upon Him a glance of pity. Only a short time before He 
wrought in this city an infinity of miracles and preached 
marvelous doctrines. What confusion, then, and shame 
must now be His to be led thus ignominiously through these 
public streets? He might, if He pleased, exert His om- 
nipotence, and by miracles appear all-glorious in the midst 



JESUS LED TO THE HOUSE OF ANNAS 193 



of these insults ; but for the cure of man's misery He com- 
ports Himself as a miserable man and suspends the ex- 
ercise of His power, that He may leave the example of His 
invincible patience for our imitation. 

Enter now, my soul ! into thyself, and judge to which of 
the two thou bearest the most resemblance, — to Jesus or 
to the Jews. Ah, my Jesus! I see nothing in myself to 
make me like Thee, but, on the contrary, I see much in 
which I exactly resemble the J ews. How often have I, also, 
like the Jews, rejoiced and gloried in offences against Thy 
infinite Majesty ! How often have I had the heart to laugh 
when I ought to have wept! If the Jews deserved Thy 
wrath for the malice that they displayed in their ignorance, 
what must become of me, who have been full of malice 
while enjoying the light of that faith which taught me to 
regard Thee as my true, my most adorable Saviour ? my 
God ! one hell would not be enough for me. I confess that 
in punishment of my ingratitude many new hells should be 
created. Nevertheless, I crave pity. I beseech Thee that, 
instead of condemning me to burn in the fire of hell, Thou 
wilt make me burn with the fire of Thy love. 

It was for this end that Thou didst permit the Jews to 
be cruel to Thee, that Thou mightest be merciful to me, and 
the mercy that I implore, that I hope for and expect, is the 
most precious grace of Thy love. By Thy own pure mercy 
Thou hast loved me, Thy most unworthy creature. It 
shall, moreover, be of Thy pure mercy that I shall be made 
worthy to love Thee, who art supremely deserving of love, 
since of myself what can I do but offend Thee ? Jesus, 
most merciful ! if ever I attain to the happiness of loving 
Thee alone, to Thee will all the glory be due and I shall sing 
Thy loving mercies throughout eternity. 

I shall compare myself with Jesus Christ, and I shall be 
confounded at beholding Him so patient and so humble and 
myself so impatient and so proud. In order practically to 
enter on the imitation of Jesus Christ, I shall humble my- 
self to implore the assistance of His grace. 

VI. After seeing Jesus Christ loaded with reproaches 



194 



JESUS LED TO THE HOUSE OF ANNAS 



in the city of Jerusalem, pause, my soul, and reflect. Does 
this your Saviour appear to you to be the same who, five 
days previously, was met with branches of olive and pro- 
claimed King of Israel ? What a change ! Yet there is no 
marvel in this; it is full of mystery. No doubt, in His 
own person, Jesus Christ is worthy of all the honors in the 
world. But it is also true that He bears the character, as it 
were, of universal sinner. Hence, as He is pleased to un- 
dergo the punishment due to our pride He submits to all 
possible ignominy. 

Whoever sins dishonors God by disobeying His holy Com- 
mandments. Consequently, what Jesus Christ purposed 
doing in His Passion was to restore to God the honor of 
which our sins had robbed Him. He alone was capable of 
doing this. For, as it was a God who had been dishonored 
by man, none but a Man-God could make to Him due 
reparation of honor. Jesus Christ voluntarily suffered the 
loss of His honor by all manner of insults and affronts; 
and as He suffered these, one after another, He offered them 
most humbly to His Eternal Father, with the most perfect 
intention to satisfy and to honor His Father. And oh, how 
immensely did the Father consider Himself honored by 
these dishonors undergone for sinners by so exalted a Per- 
sonage! Thus was the Redemption of the world carried 
out. 

my Jesus ! whose most sweet name designates Thee as 
my Saviour, who is there in all the world that owes Thee 
more than I do? While I behold Thee suffering all this 
degradation and contempt in punishment of man's pride, 
I am obliged to look on Thy Passion as intended for me 
more than for others. For who is there throughout the 
world to be compared with me for pride and arrogance ? I 
acknowledge myself bound to Thee by a debt of gratitude 
greater than that of all men besides, since it is for me that 
Thou didst humble Thyself. But how can I ever please 
Thee so long as this predominant passion keeps its sway 
over me? 

most humble Saviour! reduced to so abject a con- 



JESUS BEFORE TRIBUNAL OF ANNAS 195 



dition for me, I know what Thou dost expect of me and 
how great a right Thou hast to do so — it is that I should 
imitate Thy humility. Eternal Father! I ask of Thee 
humility through the merits of Jesus, that by it I may do 
my part to satisfy and honor Thee in imitation of Thy only- 
begotten Son. He, whom I present to Thee as my Media- 
tor, Intercessor, and Advocate, is Jesus Christ. No grace 
can be refused to Him since His merits are infinite, as by 
His humility He has done Thee infinite honor. He is my 
Saviour, and by humility I must cooperate with His merits 
and merit for myself eternal salvation. 

By practice I shall learn that the way to glorify God is 
to humble myself and willingly to accept the mortifications, 
humiliations, and occasions of shame that may come in my 
path. I shall think of the particular occasions that may 
probably arise. 



CHAPTEE XXVIIL 

JESUS CHRIST BEFORE THE TRIBUNAL OF ANNAS. 

I. Annas had been predecessor to Caiphas in the office 
of high-priesthood, therefore Jesus Christ was taken in the 
first place to Annas for two reasons. First, because this 
troop of thief -catchers followed J udas, and he was eager to 
receive the thirty pieces of silver that this wicked priest 
had promised him. Then, because these underlings were 
full of self-satisfaction at having taken Him and they 
wished to show off their exploits, which others had several 
times attempted, but in vain. As sportsmen who have 
caught a wild beast will lead it about to let people see and 
wonder at their skill, so the Jews take delight in leading 
Jesus Christ from one place to another to have themselves 
applauded and congratulated, as though they had delivered 
the country from an impostor and from one who had dis- 
turbed the public peace. 

Having entered the great hall of the palace of Annas, 
they present to him Jesus Christ as if He were one of the 



196 



JESUS BEFORE TRIBUNAL OF ANNAS 



vilest miscreants living. Annas receives Him in this char- 
acter; he commends their act, and congratulates them for 
their valiant conduct. The crafty old man is seated in a 
place of honor and fain would seem like a just man, zealous 
for God's honor. Jesus stands before him bound, as guilty 
of high treason against God and man. With what amaze- 
ment did the angels then look on and adore the incompre- 
hensible judgments of divine Wisdom as they see that 
sacrilegious priest, who plays the part of judge, and Jesus 
Christ, the true and eternal Priest, in the character of 
culprit about to be judged. 

But for me there is more reason for terror than for 
wonder in the reflection that if the Son of God now allows 
Himself to be judged by a man, the day shall come when 
man will have to stand the judgment of God. Jesus Christ 
before this human tribunal practises humility and patience ; 
yet He maintains in His interior the utmost serenity and 
intrepidity of heart, because He knows that He stands there 
utterly blameless, and that no one can charge Him with 
the most trifling fault. But what will be the case with me 
at the divine tribunal when I shall have to answer for my- 
self before my eternal Judge? What shall become of me, 
filled as I am with abominations and iniquities which I 
shall be unable to conceal, since I have with me my own 
conscience to accuse and convict me? 

For that time, my God ! I now implore Thy clemency. 
I pray Thee to judge me with the same love and mercy 
with which Thou didst submit to the judgment of wicked 
men for my eternal salvation. Ah, Thou who didst come to 
save me, have pity and do not condemn me ! Assist me now 
by Thy grace to prepare my conscience for the Judgment 
Day and to lay by a store of good works, which alone will 
avail me in the day of Thy wrath. 

That which alone can give me confidence in the judg- 
ment, either of man or of God, is the testimony of a good 
conscience. Let this then be my determination: Nothing 
against conscience. Oh, if I had only followed this rule in 
the days of my past life ! 



JESUS BEFORE TRIBUNAL OF ANNAS 



197 



II. The high-priest Annas, in order to begin the ex- 
amination of Jesus Christ, questions Him concerning His 
disciples. He should first inquire into the life of the sup- 
posed criminal and then proceed to take information re- 
specting His accomplices. But as he could find no fault 
in J esus Christ Himself, he tries to fix some blame on His 
disciples, in order to infer from this that He is a seditious 
man who collects followers and gathers meetings of the 
people to teach new doctrines. 

The wily politician again insidiously asks what has be- 
come of His disciples. He knows that one of them has 
betrayed Him ; He sees that all the rest have abandoned and 
left Him alone. Therefore he takes occasion to taunt Him 
with insult, in this manner: Did I not tell you that this 
Jesus of Nazareth was a daring hypocrite? You see even 
His disciples are of the same opinion. They too, at last, 
have found Him out. If He were a good man some one 
at least of His followers would have stood by Him faith- 
fully to uphold His cause. But not even one is with Him. 
They all are ashamed of being recognized as His followers. 
Therefore it is evident that He is a deceiver. (St. John 
xviii. ) Strong reasoning this for the judges of the world ! 

But how confused is Jesus to see Himself thus dishonored 
and discredited on account of His disciples ! With one 
stroke of His omnipotence He can silence that impious 
man, whose words proceed from hatred and from the 
swellings of his own self-conceit. With one ray of His 
wisdom He can dissipate all those clouds with which they 
attempt to darken His honor. Nevertheless, He suffers the 
grievous ignominy and says nothing in His own justifica- 
tion. 

I praise and glorify Thee, my most meek Saviour ! for 
Thy marvelous virtues, but in the attempt to praise Thee 
my conscience reproaches me for daring, unworthy as I am, 
to utter Thy praises. Therefore I confess Thy merits, and 
condemn my own wickedness. I profess to be a Christian, 
Thy follower. In doing this what occasion have I not given 
to the enemies of Thy Faith, by my evil doings, to bias- 



198 JESUS BEFORE TRIBUNAL OF ANNAS 



pheme Thy most august name and to say the Master must 
needs be of little worth since His disciple is good-for- 
nothing. 

Ah, my God, it is I alone who am wicked and false. 
Thou art good and holy ; yea, rather goodness and holiness 
itself. I have often detested my sins as being offences 
against Thee. But now I detest them still more vehement- 
ly, for this aggravating circumstance — that they are of- 
fences committed against Thee by one who has been hon- 
ored by Thee with the name and character of Christian. 
my Lord! I beseech Thee let not Thy love abandon me. 
Grant that this love may always remain with me and may 
help me to follow Thee faithfully during the rest of my life. 

J esus Christ has honored me with the character of Chris- 
tian. I ought to honor Him by imitating Him and by be- 
having as one of His true Christians should. To over- 
come my passions and temptations it is sufficient to reflect : 
I am a Christian ! 

III. Annas proceeds to question J esus Christ concerning 
His doctrine. He does not do this to learn the truth for 
his own profit, but that he may censure the doctrine and 
take occasion of accusation against its author. The divine 
Master sees his perverse intention, and what pain must we 
believe it was to Him to behold His heavenly wisdom called 
to account as though it deserved suspicion, and His doc- 
trine, which is the science of salvation and eternal life, 
turned into an occasion of condemning Him to death. He 
endures all so long as it is His own person only that is at- 
tacked, but He can not see contempt thrown upon that 
doctrine which is the doctrine of His Eternal Father and on 
which the salvation of the world depends. 

He considers Himself bound to speak in its defence, and 
thus He answers: I have spoken openly to the world. I 
have always taught in the synagogue, and in the Temple, 
whither all the Jews resort; and in secret I have spoken 
nothing.- Why asketh thou Me? ash them who have heard 
what I have spoken unto them: behold they know what 



JESUS BEFORE TRIBUNAL OF ANNAS 199 



things I have said. 1 Mark the intrepidity with which He 
speaks. He means to say that His doctrine is so true that 
concerning it He refers to the testimony, — not of the Apos- 
tles, His friends, but of the very J ews, His capital enemies ; 
being well assured that no one will be able to prove it 
wrong. There can not be a more irrefragable proof of in- 
nocence than when a man calls his very enemies in evidence. 

Shall I, my God ! in the Day of J udgment be able to 
use language like this when I shall have to render to Thee 
an account of my life ? Shall I be able to call, I say, not on 
the devils, who are my enemies, to bear witness in my favor, 
but on the angels and saints who are my advocates? My 
own deeds themselves will raise their voice against me to 
accuse me ! And what horror it shall be for me to hear 
published so many deeds of darkness, so many shameful 
actions, of which I can not now accuse myself without pain 
and confusion even to a confessor under the seal of secrecy ! 

Thou, my Jesus ! hadst no difficulty in giving account 
in a few words of Thy doctrine, because Thou knewest that 
it was most true. But when the time has arrived for me also 
to render an account of myself, how this doctrine has been 
professed and observed by me, what shall I answer? I 
believe that Thy doctrine is true ; but if on my conscience I 
must declare how I observe it in practice I admit that I 
behave as if it were false, because I live in opposition to 
what it teaches, and consequently it is my faith that will 
accuse and condemn me. Ah, my Saviour ! I am guilty and 
I have no excuse whatever to plead in my favor. I have 
nothing left but to cry mercy to Thee by the merits of Thy 
Passion. Mercy, Eternal Father ! and forgiveness of my 
sins for the sake of the pains and anguish which Thy be- 
loved Son has suffered for me. good Jesus ! answer Thou 
for me, make satisfaction for me. Thou art my Saviour 
and Thou alone canst save me ! 

Jesus Christ taught nothing in secret which He did not 
wish to be also spoken publicly to His honor. I too shall 

(0 St. John xviii, 20, 21, 



200 JESUS BEFORE TRIBUNAL OF ANNAS 

learn to do nothing secretly of which I might have reason 
to be ashamed if it became known. 

IV. Jesus Christ could not have given a more true, 
more mild, or more just answer. It confounded Annas; he 
knew not what to reply. But a servant who stood by, think- 
ing to please the high-priest by showing bold resentment, 
gives Jesus Christ a heavy blow on the face and thus re- 
proaches Him, with arrogant assurance : " What now ? 
Do you pretend to know better than he ? Learn to conduct 
yourself more wisely another time." 

Methinks that the heavens were horror-struck ; the angels 
astounded, that they veiled their eyes at the sight of an 
affront so disgraceful, so painful, offered to the God of 
Glory by that impudent servant of iniquity. Contemplate, 

my soul ! that face of Jesus Christ, so longed-for by the 
Patriarchs, — that face which captivates all hearts with its 
beams of majesty and beauty. Behold it now bruised and 
black from this blow, His teeth loosened, His gums swollen, 
the blood gushing from His mouth, His nose, His eyes. 
Can we gaze upon that venerable countenance, so cruelly 
struck, and not be moved in our heart to compassion? 

But for what end, Lord ! didst Thou permit Thy most 
beautiful countenance to be disfigured by this impious 
hand? Ah, yes, I understand, — our souls were disfigured 
and blackened by sin, and as by Thy death Thou wilt de- 
stroy our death, so by Thy bruises Thou wilt also take away 
our shameful deformities. unparalleled charity ! Grant, 

1 beseech Thee, that I may cooperate with Thy Passion, 
purifying my soul by acts of sincere penance and contri- 
tion. 

I am lost in wonder, my Saviour ! that lightning from 
heaven did not strike, or that the earth did not open and 
swallow, the man who dared outrage and shame Thee with 
that blow. But have I not more cause to wonder that the 
heavens have not fired their bolts on me and that the earth 
has not swallowed me, who have so often dared to offend 
Thee by my sins, each time renewing Thy bitter Passion? 
Who is bolder and more insolent than I, who have offended 



JESUS BEFORE TRIBUNAL OF ANNAS 201 



Thee in spite of my boundless obligations to love Thee? 
Oh that I had never offended Thee, my God! Oh that I 
might be assured of never offending Thee again ! Give me 
an abiding hatred, abhorrence, and dread of sin, so that I 
may fly from it above all possible evils, and may never more 
commit it for any imaginable good. Throughout my life 
may my sorrow for having sinned ever continue. 

If I desire to be a true penitent, I must in future grieve 
for having sinned and be careful not to sin again. Should 
I fail either in this sorrow or in this resolution my repent- 
ance is not sincere, but false. 

V. Let us weigh well the circumstances of this deed. 
Who is it that strikes the blow ? A vile Jew, a servant and 
a thief -catcher. Who is it that receives it? A God Al- 
mighty, whom no one can resist; in whose presence the 
pillars of the firmament tremble with awe and beneath 
whom they stoop, pillars that support the world. Under- 
stand this thoroughly. God the Creator, who drew man 
out of nothing, receives a blow from those very hands 
which He created and framed with infinite wisdom and 
goodness. Moreover, the blow was most painful to Him; 
given with all the strength of the arm, as though He had 
been struck with a rod of iron. Can we conceive an affront 
comparable to this? Yet there is no one to chide this in- 
solent servant, no one to condole with the innocent Lord. 
All rejoice at the outrage committed. 

The Prophets who spoke of the Passion of the Saviour 
have laid especial stress on this injury, as if it by itself 
were sufficient to fill Him with reproaches. And, in fact, 
if at the thought alone of it we are fired with zeal and can 
not suffer that it should pass unrevenged, what must have 
been the feelings of Jesus while undergoing it ? Assuredly, 
He might have visited it with the most severe vengeance 
without exceeding the limits of strict justice. But he pre- 
fers to exercise His humility rather than His justice, and 
His patience rather than His power; and He has more at 
heart to give me a lesson by His example than to punish 
that impious man. 



202 JESUS BEFORE TRIBUNAL OF ANNAS 



And what advantage do I gain from this example ? Good 
God, if I enumerate all the wrongs and all the offensive 
words with which men could overwhelm me, would they 
amount to anything in comparison with this blow received 
by the Son of God? How comes it that I have not the 
slightest patience in undergoing a trifling confusion, a 
small mortification which I may chance to meet with? 
When I think how quickly I am vexed and angry and show 
my ill-temper against those who offend me, I can only say 
that I am a bad Christian, — very far indeed, my Jesus ! 
from following Thy example and most unworthy that Thou 
shouldst suffer me in the bosom of Thy Church. 

Assist me, I beseech Thee, most loving Saviour ! Make 
me share in the spirit of Thy most humble and meek 
patience. Curb my temper, crush my pride, so that on these 
trying occasions I may have no thought of resentment or 
complaint, but may bear all with good will for Thy love 
and may regard patience as a greater treasure than all the 
goods of this world. I shall be prepared to bear everything 
if Thou wilt enlighten me to know that there is no evil so 
great that I do not deserve for my sins, and that whatever 
I may suffer is nothing in comparison with what Thou hast 
suffered for me. 

Every virtue in Jesus Christ is intended to conquer the 
opposite vice in me. Therefore I shall make use of the 
humility, the patience, the sweetness, and gentleness of 
Jesus to mortify in myself pride, impatience, aversion, and 
anger toward my neighbor. 

VI. Jesus Christ displays His humble patience in bear- 
ing this blow on His face; He also displays His gentle 
modesty in the answer which He so becomingly gives to the 
sacrilegious wretch who struck Him : If I have spoken evil, 
give testimony of the evil; but if well, why strihest thou 
Me f 1 He meant to say : I have done nothing but defend 
My doctrine; and you, who are one of those very people 
who before now heard and admired and praised Me, if at 

(0 St. John xviii, 23. 



JESUS BEFORE TRIBUNAL OF ANNAS 203 



that time, for the respect that you bore Me, you laid no 
hands on Me, how have you the heart to do it now ? 

This was a gentle reproof, with which the Saviour en- 
deavored to lead that impious man to repentance and con- 
version. Moreover, it was a simple assertion that He had 
not failed in the respect due to the high-priest ; though, in 
truth, Annas had nothing of the priesthood but the name. 
However, we have to learn from J esus whether He be silent 
or whether He speak. When He is silent, He acts the part 
of the sheep prepared for sacrifice. When He speaks, that 
of the good shepherd instructing and inviting us to follow 
the example of His virtues. And is it not perfect virtue 
to know how to answer gently and to do good to those who 
do us evil? This is a mystery hidden from the reprobate 
world and reserved for the chosen followers and imitators 
of Jesus Christ. 

you, my senses and affections, do you not feel your- 
selves carried away by the boundless love of your Redeemer ? 
Look at His face : how tender it is beneath that cruel blow, 
how hard it also is, so as to emit fire when struck, as if it 
were flint, — not the fire of wrath or hatred, but of love and 
benignity. Whether He remain silent, or whether He 
speak, His lips are ever full of grace, and in His silence, 
as well as in His discourse, He is always equally the worthy 
object of our imitation. 

God of Hosts, Eternal Father! our Protector in all 
necessities, I can not offer Thee an object more deserving 
of Thy regard than the bruised face of Thy only-begotten 
Son. Through that love with which His charity is worthy 
of being loved, be merciful to me and grant me the grace to 
make a good use of my tongue. Sometimes, when I am 
offended, I give vent to my feelings and break forth into 
violent expressions. At other times I keep silence; but 
a sort of silence full of ill-will. My words and my silence 
are both vicious. Grant, my God ! that both the one and 
the other may, like those of Jesus Christ, be virtuous. If 
I speak, let it be for truth and with modesty. If I hold 
my peace, let it be through humility and with patience, 



204 JESUS BEFORE TRIBUNAL OF ANNAS 



The tongue corresponds to the heart. Therefore I 
must plant humility first in my heart, for God bestows His 
grace upon the humble; and whoever is humble has grace 
to know on all occasions when to speak, when to be silent, 
and thus how to act virtuously and as the occasion may 
demand. 

VII. Jesus Christ had given this rule to His disciples, 
and in their persons, to all of us : that if any one strike us 
on one cheek, we should turn to him the other also. And 
what He here taught by word of mouth, He likewise ex- 
plained and illustrated by His example. This instruction 
is not to be understood literally. For Christian patience 
dwells not on the face, but in the heart. It might be, then, 
that a man would offer the other cheek to his enemy and at 
the same time his heart would be full of anger and vain- 
glory, like the heart of a stoic. Consequently the divine 
Master intended to say, that if any one despises and offends 
us we must not only repress hatred, but, moreover, be pre- 
pared to suffer fresh injuries ; without, however, neglecting 
the obligation of fraternal correction when requisite. 

And who ever practised this precept with such perfection 
as Jesus Christ? To him that struck Him He gave a 
gentle and salutary admonition, and at the same time main- 
tained in His tranquil Heart a perfect disposition to suffer 
whatever more grievous ignominy might be laid upon Him. 
He not only offered the other cheek to fresh blows, but His 
entire body to be nailed on the cross. Oh, if we could have 
seen the interior of the most amiable Saviour ! What love 
of charity was there toward him who gave Him the blow! 
What love toward us, for whom He suffered and desired to 
suffer every species of painful torment! 

Oh, happy and blessed is he that can imitate Jesus Christ 
in this disposition of heart — prepared after receiving one 
injury to receive another, and again another, for the ex- 
ercise of mortification and humility! But, my most 
loving Jesus, how far removed am I from thus imitating 
Thee ! I have not the virtue to bear two or three sarcastic 
words which may be addressed to me. What, then, can I 



JESUS BEFORE TRIBUNAL OF ANNAS 205 



expect from myself if I am treated with offensive acts ? I 
can not receive in good part even a just reproof from some 
person who has zeal for correcting my faults, and I take a 
dislike to them whom I am bound to love. What confi- 
dence, then, can I place in myself that I may ever bear 
patiently a real injury done me? My impatience is in the 
highest degree culpable and scandalous. I beseech Thee to 
impress on my mind and heart Thy lessons of patience, 
that, as occasions offer, I may be enabled to put them into 
practice. 

I wish, my Redeemer! to imitate Thee. I wish it 
earnestly; and because I wish it, I also implore Thee to 
grant me Thy assistance. But who is it that makes me 
desire and hope and pray for this? Who but Thyself, 
God of infinite bounty! And who but Thyself can also 
hear my prayers and satisfy my desires? The desire of 
virtue which I experience is Thy gift ; and my attainment 
of virtue will not be ascribed to my own exertions, but it 
will also be Thy gift. 

I shall acknowledge the root of my evil. I am impatient 
because I am proud. It is pride that makes me imagine 
that I am wronged at every turn ; and yet no wrong is done 
me, since, on account of my sins, I deserve much worse 
than I meet with in every way. 

VIII. If we take a survey of the whole course of the 
Passion of Jesus Christ we find that, enduring as He did 
all manner of injuries and pains, from all kinds of persons, 
He behaved throughout as a meek lamb, never opening His 
mouth either to defend Himself or to complain, or even so 
much as to say, Why do you ill-treat Me ? It is only now, 
on receiving this blow, that He complains of the wanton 
act and is heard to say, Why strikest thou Me f 1 What can 
be the reason of this ? 

It is affirmed by some that this man was the very same 
Malchus whose ear Jesus Christ had miraculously healed 
in the garden ; at which time, we have reason to believe, that 
the Saviour gave him besides health of body also health of 

0) St. John xviii, 23. 



206 JESUS BEFORE TRIBUNAL OF ANNAS 



soul. This He was wont to do to the sick on other occa- 
sions, enlightening their minds with faith and justifying 
them by the remission of their sins. With reason then did 
Jesus Christ complain only of this blow, as of an injury 
more grievous and more painful than all, it having been 
inflicted by one who, both in body and soul, had been so 
immensely benefited by Him. Nevertheless with what gen- 
tleness, with what kindness does He bear it ! 

But what benefits, both corporeal and spiritual, have I 
not also, my God! received from Thee? And what 
offences have I not committed against Thee in return? 
When I think only of that one most striking benefit of Thy 
mercy — of having so frequently received pardon of my 
sins by Confession, — and then consider again the many 
times that I have returned to sin after Thou hast forgiven 
me, I imagine to myself that each time that I have sinned 
after Confession Thou hast said to me also, with just rea- 
son, Most ungrateful creature, why dost thou ill-treat Me ? 

But the worst is, that even now I am still the same that 
I have heretofore been. My whole life is nothing but a 
repetition of sins and Confessions. I go to Confession, and 
I do not amend. Instead of diligently using means of 
amendment, I still remain in my bad habits as before. 
Good God, when shall there be an end to this wickedness 
and ingratitude? 

I know not where to look for help but to Thee, who art 
the Doer of great and incomprehensible things. I know 
that I deserve to be punished by Thy justice; — but I im- 
plore Thy clemency. I deserve Thy wrath, but I cry aloud 
for mercy — for that mercy which proceeds from the infinite 
treasury of Thy goodness. Let Thy most holy grace, I be- 
seech Thee, come to my aid that I may offend Thee no more, 
but may love Thee above all things and may be most grate- 
ful for all Thy benefits, but principally for that of Con- 
fession. 

I shall renew my examinations for Confession. God 
grant that I may not turn into sin the Sacrament instituted 
for canceling and correcting sins ! What kind of examina- 



JESUS AT THE TRIBUNAL OF CAIPBAS £0? 



tion of conscience do I make in preparation for it ? What 
is my contrition ? What my purpose of amendment ? How 
do I accuse myself? 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

JESUS CHRIST AT THE TRIBUNAL OF CAIPHAS. 

I. Annas, with his assistants, having examined Jesus 
Christ concerning His doctrine and His disciples, and not 
knowing what to do next as He had found no matter for 
accusation in Him, sends Him bound, as He had been 
brought to him, to the high-priest Caiphas, his son-in-law, 
hoping that he, being a man full of sophistry and artifice, 
might discover matter for His condemnation. Meanwhile 
the Jews, beholding the intrepidity of His behavior amid 
injuries and outrages, foam with fury and spite against 
Him. As they imagine that His unconquerable patience 
throws contempt on themselves, there is no treatment too 
vile for them to inflict on Christ to satisfy their vindic- 
tive rage. However, their cruelty only displays in a 
brighter light His sweet gentleness. 

The Evangelist St. John calls upon all who read or medi- 
tate on this point — that is, Jesus Christ so ignominiously 
led to Caiphas, — to remember that this Caiphas was the 
man who, a short time previously, had said that Jesus 
Christ ought to be put to death to save His people. The 
Evangelist, I repeat, reminds us that Jesus is the Saviour 
of the world ; that is, true God and true Man, come to make 
satisfaction for us and to die for our deliverance from eter- 
nal death, to which we were condemned for sin. 

Therefore, we must firmly believe this article of the 
Divinity and Humanity ineffably united in one person; 
since, if Jesus Christ had been only God, or only Man, He 
could not have worked out our eternal salvation. And it 
is equally dangerous for us not to believe that He is God, 
or not to believe that He is Man. Ah, then, my God ! en- 



208 JESUS At THE TRIBUNAL OF CA1PHA8 



grave this faith on my memory, on my mind, and on my 
heart, that, frequently and fervently, I may exercise acts 
of it. 

my Lord Jesus Christ ! as far as I know, as far as I am 
able, I believe that Thou art in truth God and Man. I 
believe it so firmly that, with Thy assistance, I shall give 
my blood and my life for the defence of the infallible truth 
of this Catholic faith. If I do not give to it all that ful- 
ness of belief which Thou art worthy to claim, I offer Thee 
all the more ardent faith with which so many millions of 
martyrs have honored Thee, accepting death for the glory 
of Thy name. In this faith I bless Thee in Thy sufferings, 
I adore Thee, I confess Thee to be my Saviour. Moreover, 
I implore Thee for grace to put into practice what I believe, 
by imitating Thee. For what would it profit me to believe 
Thee to be my Saviour if I did not cooperate in working 
out my own salvation by the imitation of Thy virtues ? 

1 shall awaken in myself the belief that a Man-God 
allows Himself to be bound, outraged, condemned to death 
for me. In proportion to the liveliness of my faith shall 
also be that of my charity, and of all my other virtues. 

II. The high-priest Caiphas, that most unworthy chief 
of the synagogue, is sitting in the council-hall, surrounded 
with the doctors and ancients, who, being informed of the 
capture of Jesus Christ, had come together in that place to 
/ wait for Him. No sooner do they see Him appear than 
they begin to consult, not whether He can be condemned, 
but how He must be condemned. They all are so athirst 
for His blood that they would fain there and then put Him 
to death without more ado. It is not enough for them that 
He should die; He must die as a criminal, with the dis- 
grace of having deserved death. 

These wicked men are urged on by envy to put Jesus 
Christ to death. But, jealous of their own reputation, they 
/ study how to disguise their malignant passions under the 
/ garb of justice. They make a show, therefore, of institut- 
/ ing a judicial process ; but this is only an insidious pretext. 
They seek witnesses ; but if these be false it is nothing to 



JESUS AT THE TRIBUNAL OF CAIPHAS 209 

them, provided they may in any way seem to be true. They 
care not whether or not the sentence be just if it only have 
some semblance of justice. 

Envy, pride, and hypocrisy, are in league against Jesus 
Christ. All agree to put Him to death, because they are 
envious; but without discredit to themselves, because they 
are proud ; and it must be so contrived that in the very act 
of crime they may seem virtuous, because they are hypo- 
crites. Now do I not perceive here the exact image of what 
goes on within me? I have thought myself free at least 
from the vice of hypocrisy, and yet how deeply am I in- 
fected with it? How often do I cloak evil with the sem- 
blance of good ! Envy and ill-will with the appearance of 
zeal! Pride under the color of humility! A corrupt in- 
terior under a modest exterior ! Evil intentions under the 
mask of pretended honest simplicity ! And really what is 
all this but an exhibition of hypocrisy? 

my God, Searcher of hearts ! what shall become of me 
when the time arrives for Thee to bring to light my hidden 
works of darkness, and for all my hypocrisy to be de- 
tected? Make me, I beseech Thee, rightly apprehend the 
grievousness of this evil, which is so much the more dan- 
gerous as it is less noticed, in order that I may carefully 
correct myself. With feelings of profound sorrow I detest 
and abominate this vice as being utterly opposed to Thee. 
Thou art the God of truth, — and what is hypocrisy but a 
lie, a deceit ? God of truth, make me love truth and despise 
falsehood, which profits nothing for eternity. 

Hypocrisy is most disgraceful. I shall remedy it by 
thinking of the Day of Judgment, when all hypocrites shall 
be ashamed and confounded. There is nothing so hidden 
that it shall not be made public. 

III. This council assembled by Caiphas had been re- 
peatedly foretold in the Psalms, as one in which it would 
be wickedly attempted to blacken with calumnies the inno- 
cence and good name of the Saviour. And, indeed, what 
do they not say and do to load Him with false aspersions ? 
These impious men in their conscience know that the life 



210 JESUS AT THE TRIBUNAL OF CA1PBAS 



and doctrine of Jesus Christ are faultless. For on how 
many occasions had they artfully watched and questioned 
Him, and had never been able to find anything to blame or 
censure in Him? They also know that there is no witness 
who can, with truth, allege the slightest evil against Him. 
Yet so great is their desire to stamp Him with infamy and 
to bring Him to an ignominious death, that unable to dis- 
cover true evidence against Him, they seek for false. 

But how does the divine Wisdom laugh to scorn the coun- 
sels of men ! Those very witnesses brought forward to 
/ make Him appear a criminal, being all found liars and 
without credit, do nothing except to place in a clearer light 
I His spotless innocence. Jesus Christ had lived a life so 
\ pure, upright, and exemplary, that not a shadow or ap- 
pearance of a fault could be discovered to darken His good 
name. In all the accusations brought against Him, truth 
prevails over falsehood and iniquity betrays itself. 

To me it is a supreme consolation, my Lord Jesus 
Christ ! that Thy innocence shines so clear amid all these 
wicked allegations. I adore the providence of Thy heavenly 
Father, who has so ordered that when Thou art led out to 
die Thou shouldst go with Thy innocence acknowledged 
before all the world, unjustly condemned without the 
shadow of a fault. And I wonder at the perfidy of the 
Jews, who leave no stone unturned to find false witnesses to 
condemn Thee. But, at the same time, my conscience ac- 
cuses and convicts me of the same wickedness. 

Thus it is that I, too, seek false witnesses against Thee, 
my most innocent Saviour, as often as I seek for arguments, 
opinions, probabilities, to cloud the truth of Thy holy Gos- 
pel. I know what my conscience tells me are my duties 
toward Thee, toward my neighbor, and myself. But how 
frequently do I frame for myself a false conscience to per- 
suade myself of the lawfulness of certain things which are, 
in truth, unlawful ! How often do I give the preference 
to a fallacious opinion of my own, favoring concupiscence 
in opposition to Thy most holy law! I repent of all my 
wickedness, my God ! and by the love which Thou hast for 



JESUS AT THE TRIBUNAL OF CAIPHAS 



211 



truth I implore Thee to give me an upright conscience, 
which may on all occasions do justice to the cause of truth. 
Safeguard me from being led by my opinion, by making me 
always remember that I shall be judged, not by the rule of 
opinion, but of conscience. 

The Gospel teaches that the way to Paradise is narrow. 
I must then learn to reject false witnesses, certain base 
opinions which withdraw me from Evangelical mortifica- 
tion, and I must check the corrupt inclination that my 
senses have toward liberty. 

IV. The hall of the great council is full of people. 
And Caiphas, having given permission to all to speak 
against Jesus Christ, at the same time intimating that the 
more accusers there are the better he will be pleased, many 
stand up together and rudely push one against another to 
get forward and to curry favor by their accusations. Each 
one utters whatever comes to his mind — one thing or an- 
other which he has heard from the Scribes and Pharisees, 
professed slanderers, to blacken the , Saviour's character. 
Some affirm that He is a glutton, a drunkard, and a friend 
of sinners. Others depose that He is a notorious sinner, a 
perverter of the multitude, a blasphemer of God. Others, 
that He is addicted to superstitious acts, and a presumptu- 
ous boaster. What a concatenation of calumnies ! and Jesus 
Christ, as He stands there to listen to them, how does He 
behave ? 

To a man of honor there is nothing more tormenting 
than calumny. He would count it a less evil to die than to 
survive his good name. Consequently, we may believe that 
Jesus Christ is now drinking that chalice of most afflicting 
bitterness from which His most honored Humanity had 
prayed in the garden to be dispensed. He hears all, and 
leaving His sensitive appetite to feel all the anguish which 
the load of atrocious lies can occasion it, He suffers all with 
unconquerable patience, and, with marvelous charity, He 
prays for those who slander Him. 

What, my soul ! must we learn from this example ? I 
shall learn patience when I hear evil spoken against me. 



212 JE8U8 AT THE TRIBUNAL OF CAIPHA8 

If I take to heart and feel pain from what evil tongues say 
of me, and imagine that I have reason to complain because 
my honor has been basely attacked and wounded, I will 
again learn from this not to do unto others what I am not 
pleased should be done to myself. my God ! I am much 
inclined to the vice of evil-speaking. I readily interpret the 
conduct of others in an unfavorable sense. I yield to evil 
suspicions and express them. I am ready to mention the 
faults of others, with exaggeration; to repeat the evil I 
hear of others, not reflecting whether it be true or false, 
and not thinking of the injury I may inflict on their honor. 

Ah, my J esus ! make me understand the heinousness and 
deformity of this vice and bestow upon me the grace to love 
my neighbor with the same love that I bear myself, so that, 
as I am so much pained when any evil is spoken of me, I 
may speak evil of no one else. I repent of all the sins that I 
have committed with my slanderous tongue and I resolve 
to curb it, since I desire to love my neighbor as myself for 
the love of Thee. But who, my God ! except Thou will be 
able to govern this tongue of mine, without a special grace 
from Thee? Therefore I offer and commit it to Thee, 
praying Thee to guard it. It might easily happen that I 
should incur damnation for sins of the tongue. Ah ! what 
torments shall I suffer in my tongue if I am damned on 
account of it. 

I shall often go to the root of evil-speaking, which is 
pride and envy. To my pride I shall oppose the humility 
of Jesus. To my envy, His charity. Every disorder of the 
tongue springs from the heart. 

V. Caiphas foams with rage at not finding witnesses to 
depose anything against Jesus Christ that may have so 
much as an appearance of truth. Trembling, therefore, 
with diabolical fury, he rises from his seat, resolved, if 
possible, to provoke some rash word from the innocent 
Victim who stands before him with His head bowed down, 
without uttering a word, in most profound humility. An- 
swereth Thou nothing, he says, to the things which these 



JESUS AT THE TRIBUNAL OF CAIPHAS 213 



witness against Thee f 1 Full of guile, he speaks thus that 
he may draw something from His lips with which to crimi- 
nate Him one way or another. But the Saviour, who be- 
holds his malicious purpose, lets him speak and holds His 
peace. 

He holds His peace, not from necessity or from want of 
ability to find means to justify Himself, but by a voluntary, 
virtuous choice of His own. He holds His peace because no 
reply is called for when the accusations are manifestly 
groundless. He is silent, as the Prophet had foretold, be- 
cause by this silence He practises humility and patience 
and proves Himself to be, in our behalf, the Lord strong 
and mighty in battles, triumphing over sin and the world 
at the very time that the world, in its pride, fancies it has 
conquered Him. marvelous silence ! 

Well, indeed, does Jesus Christ teach me that against 
calumnies and reproaches there is no better safeguard than 
humility and patience. How true is this lesson ! What do 
we gain by answering impertinences, which we thereby only 
encourage ? On the other hand, what do we gain by silence 
if it be disdainful and proud? Even human prudence 
forbids replying. But, in order to be meritorious, our 
silence must spring from Christian virtue. 

In the practice of this point of duty, my God! I am 
exceedingly defective. I require to have this maxim im- 
pressed upon me : that moral virtues alone, if they spring 
not from a supernatural motive, are not sufficient to obtain 
for me eternal bliss. How many things I do that in them- 
selves are really good, and yet they help me in no way to 
gain heaven, because in doing them I follow the dictates of 
human reason and have in view nothing but human respect ; 
whereas, I ought to perform them for Thy love, my God ! 

Eternal Father! I offer to Thee the meritorious silence 
of Jesus when He suffered those disgraceful calumnies. 
Take from me, I beseech Thee, all that prudence that 
savors of the flesh and the world and which serves only to 
nourish my self-love, to make my sufferings more grievous 

(0 St. Matt, xxvi, 62. 



214 JESUS AT THE TRIBUNAL OF CAIPHAS 

to bear, and to deprive me of Thy sweet consolations. Give 
me, in place of it, true Christian prudence, which the world 
knows nothing about, but derides as folly and simplicity; 
which has its source in Thy grace, and which Thou ref usest 
to the proud and givest only to the humble. Enlighten my 
mind to know genuine prudence ; give fervor to my heart 
to love and desire it, and strength to my will to follow its 
dictates and resolutely practise them. 

It is not enough to suffer humiliations. I must suffer 
them in order to imitate Jesus Christ and for the love of 
Jesus Christ. To remember Jesus Christ, who has suffered 
so much and so willingly for me, will make my sufferings 
acceptable indeed. 

VI. Caiphas, seeing that Jesus Christ, although pro- 
voked to speak, replies not but holds His peace, instead of 
admiring this virtuous silence becomes more and more en- 
raged, and makes an attempt in another way to force Him 
to answer, that something may escape Him on which an 
accusation can be based. Therefore, he says: I adjure 
Thee by the living God, that Thou tell us if Thou be the 
Christ the Son of God. 1 infernal craft and malice! 
The impious judge is aware that on other occasions Jesus 
Christ said that He is the Son of God. Now he asks Him 
this question, not with the intention to believe in Him, but 
to entangle Him whichever way He answers. If He says 
yes, this yes will be a blasphemy; if no, this no will be 
equally against Him as convicting Him of being a deceiver 
of the people. In short, whether His answer is yes or no 
Caiphas is determined to make it a crime of most heinous 
atrocity, deserving to be punished with death. 

All present — priests, Scribes, and Pharisees — have the 
same purpose. We must observe how these men make use 
of the holy name of God in order to bring about the greatest 
crime imaginable against God, even the death of the Son of 
God made Man, and they intend to turn into a means of 
their own damnation that confession which Jesus Christ is 
about to make of His Divinity, on which depends the salva- 

(0 St. Matt, xxvi, 63. 



JESUS AT THE TRIBUNAL OP CAIPHAS 215 



tion of the world. Oh, to what depths will a ruling passion 
bring us ! What urges these unhappy men to take occasion 
from things the most sacred to commit so enormous a 
sacrilege but pride, envy, anger, hatred, which they made 
no effort to check in their first impulses? 

Here is an example for me to learn caution in the dangers 
that surround me. I greatly fear that I may use what is 
most holy and sacred in religion, for instance, the Sacra- 
ments, to bring on myself the guilt of sacrilege by reason 
of my unmortified passions. I feel within myself a dis- 
orderly affection for all those things that nourish in me 
pride of heart or sensuality of the flesh. Nevertheless, 
without reflecting on my state I continue to participate in 
the most holy Mysteries. I may flatter myself and exclaim, 
Where is the harm? But who can say whether this out- 
ward, apparent piety of mine, in approaching the Sacra- 
ments with so many vain and worldly and unmortified dis- 
positions opposed to the love of God, may not place me 
among those who are enemies rather than disciples of the 
Saviour ? 

Ah, my God! remove from me all those passions that 
cause me to be a profaner of Thy most holy Sacraments. 
Bestow upon me that spirit of mortification which is neces- 
sary in order to subdue my love of vanity, and grant me 
Thy love, that love by which whoever possesses it imme- 
diately ceases to be wicked, and becomes good. Other vir- 
tues will, one by one, overcome other vices; but Thy love 
combats and conquers all vices at once. 

I shall examine myself in regard to my passions to see if, 
perchance, I am deluding myself and approaching the 
Sacraments unworthily. It may happen that my present 
evil is not grievous, but it may and will become so by de- 
grees if I do not constantly endeavor to acquire mortifica- 
tion of self, 

VII. Although Jesus Christ is well aware that these 
impious men are unworthy of His replies, and that they 
will reap no benefit from them, nevertheless He answers the 
adjuration of Caiphas, to manifest His supreme love of 



216 JESUS AT THE TRIBUXAL OF CAIPHAS 

truth and His supreme reverence for the holy name of God. 
He plainly confesses that He is the true Son of God. 
Shortly before He was apprehended in the garden He said 
to His enemies, I am He; 1 and these words were as a thun- 
derbolt of His omnipotence that laid them prostrate on the 
earth. Now again He says, I am He, and this previous to 
His condemnation ; and these words are as a thunderbolt of 
His justice that declares these enemies inexcusable in their 
obstinate malice. 

Let us reflect on the lesson here given us. Jesus Christ 
knows that His answer, when He confesses Himself Son of 
God, will be made use of by the wicked Jews as an occasion 
to condemn Him to death; and there is no doubt that He 
might have been silent, since neither the violence and 
haughty words of Caiphas nor the threats of the ruffians 
surrounding Him could force Him to speak, like a man 
questioned on the rack. Notwithstanding all this, He an- 
swers freely and willingly. Nothing, not even death, pre- 
vents Him from confessing the truth for the glory of His 
heavenly Father and the salvation of the world. 

Oh, when I compare myself with this example, what con- 
fusion should it be to me, who am so cowardly in. the 
practice of my duties and allow myself to be overcome by 
human respect ! If I were called to confess the faith of 
Jesus Christ at the peril of my life, where should I find 
courage to do it since I have not the strength to stand up 
in the defence of virtue at the risk only of incurring some 
one's ill-will, or of receiving an evil word? This is my 
weak point : — I would fain be a Christian and a man of the 
world at the same time. And how often do I grow lax in 
the practice of virtue rather than lose the empty esteem 
and favor of the lovers of this world ! 

my Jesus, how great is the love that Thou hast for me ! 
And oh, how trifling is my love for Thee ! Because Thou 
dost indeed love me Thou hast thought nothing of exposing 
Thy own life for me ; and because I, in truth, do not love 
Thee, every vain phantom of difficulty alarms me. Fortify 

(') St. John xviii, 5. 



JESUS AT THE TRIBUNAL OF CAIPHAS 217 

my heart, I implore Thee, so that on every occasion I may, 
with intrepidity, confess, both by word and example, that 
Thou art my God, my true, sole, supreme, and most admira- 
ble Good. Nothing can give me courage except Thy love. 
Therefore make me love Thee with my whole heart. If I 
love Thee in this manner I shall be prepared to suffer all 
things for Thee. 

I shall confess Jesus Christ to be what He is in reality, 
true God, every time that I imitate His meekness, His 
humility, His patience, and His other excellent virtues. 

VIII. Jesus Christ, having declared His Divinity, sub- 
joins a proof of it, making mention of the General Judg- 
ment and protesting to Caiphas, as well as to the rest, that 
when they shall behold Him appear, seated in glory at 
the right hand of the Eternal Father, they will understand 
who He is. They will know this Son of Man to be God. 
They will see Plim, who is now being judged, as Judge of 
all the world. They will see Him, who now in His humility 
is despised, to be the most exalted in majesty. Him who is 
now reputed a malefactor, to be the God of truth and holi- 
ness. 

What the Saviour intends to do is to establish the faith 
which is so necessary for our salvation — that we should 
believe Him to be the true Son of God and the true Son of 
Man. At the same time He desires to establish on a firm 
basis our hope, by giving us to understand that everything 
here, whether prosperity or adversity, will quickly come to 
an end, and that the time shall soon arrive when to the good 
will be given eternal glory, and to the wicked eternal pain. 
In the Day of Judgment, how great shall be the confusion 
of the reprobate, who have followed their vicious passions ! 
And what shall be the consolation of the elect, who have 
imitated the examples of virtue given by Jesus Christ! 
What will the eternal Judge do on that last day but glorify 
the humble and humble the proud ! 

my soul, is there not sufficient virtue in the example of 
Jesus Christ and in the hope of enjoying, with Jesus Christ, 
a share of His eternal bliss to encourage me to suffer with a 



218 JESUS AT THE TRIBUNAL OF CAIPHAS 

good will the tribulations, the humiliations, and the dis- 
pleasures of this world ? Now is the time for patience and 
humility. But let us be courageous, before long we shall 
partake of immortality and glory ! We deserve it not. We 
are unworthy of it. But a God has merited it for us, a 
God has promised it to us; — and the word of God is in- 
fallible. 

Meanwhile I humble myself and adore Thee, prostrate 
before the throne of Thy royal greatness, my Lord Jesus 
Christ ! I believe Thee to be true God and true Man, the 
Judge of the living and the dead, who shall come at the 
end of ages to reward or to punish according as each one 
shall deserve. I rejoice to think that the day approaches 
when all Thy enemies shall confess Thy greatness and Thy 
innocence. Oh, grant that the certainty of Thy judgment 
may remain impressed on my soul. This, I know, will be 
an efficacious help to induce me to serve Thee faithfully and 
to follow Thy examples. 

I shall exercise myself in acts of faith, that Jesus Christ 
is my Saviour, in order to excite me to love Him; and also 
that He is my Judge, that I may fear Him. When at times 
love fails to support me, I shall supply its place by fear. 

IX. Having heard the answer of Jesus Christ, declaring 
Himself the Son of God, Caiphas should instantly have 
prostrated himself on the ground with reverential fear, and, 
by his example, have moved the rest to acts of profound 
adoration. But he does nothing of the sort. On the con- 
trary, he becomes more enraged, gnashes his teeth, and 
rends his priestly garment as if horrified at hearing a tre- 
mendous blasphemy. Most foul hypocrite ! he pretends to 
be animated with zeal for the honor of God, whereas his 
actions are nothing but the mad transports of frenzied rage. 
He pretends to be exceedingly displeased, as at an offence 
against God, while he is, in truth, delighted to have found 
an opportunity to accuse and condemn the very Son of 
God. He is not content with simply accusing Him; he 
makes use of every means to increase and exaggerate the 
pretended crime and to make it appear more grievous. 



JESUS AT THE TRIBUNAL OF GAIPHAS 219 

And does Jesus Christ justify Himself on hearing so 
atrocious and hateful a crime imputed to Him? Does He 
say in His defence that what He has spoken is no blas- 
phemy, but the very truth ? Does He resentfully retort on 
His accusers, by showing that the blasphemy is not in Him 
for declaring Himself the Son of God, but in those who 
deny it ? He hears this most false accusation and suffers it 
with patience and meekly keeps silence. Oh, admirable 
example ! 

If it sometimes happens that anything false is alleged 
against me I complain, I wrangle, I can never say enough to 
this person and to that person to prove that I have been un- 
justly and wrongfully blamed, and that all the tongues that 
speak against me are false and malignant. My passion 
magnifies the fault in my own eyes; every trifling wrong 
appears to me as something enormous, which requires an 
extraordinary degree of patience to endure. 

What sort of Christian am I, with sentiments so op- 
posed to those of Jesus Christ? Behold, my soul, thy 
Saviour treated as a blasphemer; while in fact there never 
has been one, nor is, nor ever will be, to be compared with 
Him for the glory that He gives to God. Oh, what meek- 
ness ! Oh, what patience under so grievous an insult ! How 
can there be any difficulty in bearing the most offensive 
calumny if we only keep this example before our eyes ? 

Most sweet Jesus ! I shall imitate Thee by the endurance 
of every manner of wrong. This I have many times re- 
solved to do, and now again resolve to do the same. But 
alas ! I am so unstable that my resolutions are like the 
flower of the field which, in the morning blooms and in 
the evening is dried up. By Thy help give stability to my 
constancy. Make me know and detest my pride, that gives 
me too exalted an opinion of myself and makes me imagine 
myself stable, constant, firm, like a marble column ; where- 
as, I am a hollow reed that bends at every breath of wind. 

When I become impatient under adversity I shall gather 
humility from my impatience, and through this humility I 



220 JESUS AT THE TRIBUNAL OF CAIPHAS 



shall obtain grace to be patient on occasions that may after- 
ward arise. 

X. If Caiphas were to propose to those assessors of his, 
who were masters profoundly learned in the law, to examine 
dispassionately the answer of Jesus Christ, he would dis- 
cover by the light of His doctrine and miracles, comparing 
them with the Scriptures and calculating the times, that 
He is truly the desired Messiah. But blinded by malice, he 
insists without further inquiry that truth is blasphemy, 
and that the innocent One should be condemned as a 
criminal convicted on his own confession. Therefore he 
turns to those around him, and, while falsely pretending to 
leave the case to their judgment, he urges and forces them, 
by his importunate manner of speaking and acting, to unite 
with him in the unjust sentence. 

In effect they all yield to him, and constituting them- 
selves in defiance of the law at the same time accusers, 
witnesses, and judges, they tumultuously raise their voice 
and cry out that Jesus deserves to be put to death. Blind, 
unhappy men! They have before their eyes the expected 
Messiah, and they see Him not. Their passions have such 
dominion over them that reason loses all its power. No 
wonder, then, that from minds thus perverted by malice a 
perverse judgment should be announced. The Prophet had 
already seen them from afar as drunkards, void of sense; 
and such they are in effect, by the fumes that rise to their 
head through pride, envy, and rage. 

But I must not give too much license to my indignation 
against these men, suborned and seduced by Caiphas. I 
also have my Caiphas within myself ; that is, my self-love, 
that head of an entire troop of subordinate passions. This 
self-love is the enemy of truth, the lover of lies. And, oh, 
my Jesus ! how proud, how mad, is this ruler who does not 
hesitate to trample under foot in me Thy love, and con- 
temns in Thee Thy most lovely goodness. This is the 
tyrant that excites to rebellion all my senses, interior and 
exterior, and with them cries against Thee and will have 
Thee put to death, beloved Author of life ! detestable 



JESUS MOCKED IN HOUSE OF CAIPHAS 221 



self-love! It is against this monster that I should arouse 
my zeal and indignation. But how can I succeed in crush- 
ing it if it has gained the ascendancy in me? 

I call Thy mercy to my assistance, Love of loves, my 
Lord J esus Christ ! There is no champion so valorous as to 
stand up against my self-love, except love for Thee. Grant, 
therefore, I beseech Thee, that I may love Thee ardently. 
Thus shall I ever exclaim with all the powers of my soul, 
with all the affections of my heart, with all the senses of my 
body, Live Jesus! Let Him live in whom all the living 
have life, and in whom he that lives shall not die for ever- 
more. Angels and saints of Paradise ! I join with you in 
crying out that Jesus is worthy of everlasting life and 
everlasting glory, in opposition to the impious tongues that 
cry out that He is deserving of death. 

Self-love makes war on the side of concupiscence against 
conscience, and gives an appearance of probability to many 
erroneous opinions. I shall examine myself and be on my 
guard concerning this matter. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

JESUS CHRIST MOCKED IN THE HOUSE OF CAIPHAS. 

I. No sooner have the soldiers, the officers and servants, 
heard the sentence of the council, that Jesus Christ deserves 
to be condemned to death as a blasphemer, than they become 
mad with impious zeal against Him and give vent to their 
rage, some with words of ignominy, some with scornful 
raillery; others fall upon His very person with the most 
cruel ill-treatment that they can devise. These rulers and 
ancients of the Jews, forgetful of their accustomed gravity, 
lead the way in putting Him to shame, — and what does the 
remainder of the rabble say and do, after their example ? 

Jesus Christ receives it all with most profound humility. 
In the meantime we must remark that his humility does 



222 JESUS MOCKED IN HOUSE OF CAIPHAS 



not in the least mitigate His interior suffering. He loves 
His own honor, as it deserves to be loved. Moreover, He 
has within His soul every capacity for the most sensitive 
feeling of the dishonor laid upon Him. Hence it is that 
He, being most desirous of suffering both in body and in 
mind, allows no occasion of suffering to pass. He accepts 
every outrage, weighs and ruminates it with His most 
noble, refined, and sensitive spirit, in order to extract from 
it all the affliction possible. His mind preserves its full and 
undisturbed calmness and serenity. He ponders the griev- 
ousness of every word spoken to Him, of every evil expres- 
sion used against Him, of every wrong done Him, and the 
bitterness of His affliction is in proportion to the liveliness 
of His apprehension. 

Most sweet J esus ! what admirable lessons do I not find in 
meditating on Thee thus mocked and spurned ? This hour 
may be truly said to be the hour of Thy enemies, and Thy 
hour too. It is the hour of Thy enemies, who are bent on 
satisfying their own rage and hatred; it is likewise Thy 
hour, since in it Thou also art seeking satisfaction for Thy 
burning charity. They leave nothing undone to out- 
rage Thee as their fury prompts them. On Thy part, Thou 
leavest nothing undone to suffer more and more as Thy 
love inspires Thee. 

I praise Thee, I thank Thee, I compassionate Thee, 
most holy Saviour! and I grieve that I am so far from 
following Thy example. Thou lookest on the offences done 
to Thee as means of practising virtue, while I take all 
offences done to me merely as motives for resentment. Ah, 
my Jesus ! I do not love Thee — this is all that troubles me. 
Make me love Thee, and in Thy love I shall find all good. 
Make me love Thee, and then all incitement to sin will be- 
come to me occasions of virtue ; and, especially, I shall find 
helps to humility in those very circumstances which I now 
turn into occasions of bitterness and pride. 

The love that I entertain for my own honor is inordinate. 
It is not reason, but pride, that makes me feel so acutely the 
offences which are offered me. When these feelings, there- 



JESUS MOCKED IN HOUSE OF CAIPHAS 223 



fore, come upon me I shall say to myself : See how proud 
I am. 

II. The council being finished, and notice having been 
given of another session early the next morning, the wicked 
judges return to their homes and take some rest, full of 
satisfaction at having pronounced the most unjust sentence 
that ever was heard of in the world. To Jesus Christ, 
meanwhile, not even a moment of repose is allowed. He 
remains in the hands of those miscreants, who keep Him 
tightly bound by way of guarding Him, — and who can form 
an idea of the insolence and indignities which they heap 
upon Him throughout the whole of that night, even until 
the dawn of day ? Following the example of their masters, 
who have used Him so contemptuously, the servants do the 
same, and worse; some regarding Him with fierce looks, 
eager to see Him suffer as a blasphemer; others treating 
Him as a mountebank, a fool, a man of no account, fit only 
to give them sport and diversion; all of them wondering 
how thirty pieces of silver could have been given to Judas 
for one so abject, who could not be worth three farthings. 

If He has to be put to death, they might leave Him in 
peace and spare Him this ill-treatment. But these men, 
worse than barbarians, urged violently on by their rage, 
assault Him one after another, with every kind of outrage, 
so that in the whole world there is nothing reckoned more 
vile than the Lord and Master of the world. cruelty un- 
paralleled! And, patience, also, unexampled! At the 
instigation of the priests these wretches in every way insult 
the suffering Jesus — with mockery, with blows and with 
insolence. He lets them treat Him as they will, and suffers 
all most meekly. 

What sayest thou, my soul ? Thou admirest the patience 
of thy Saviour with the outrageous Jews, and yet this 
patience continued but a few hours. How much more must 
thou admire the same Saviour's patience practised for years 
and years with thyself ? Incarnate Son of God ! I have, 
by sinning, done Thee greater wrong throughout the whole 
course of my life than the J ews did on that night by mock- 



224 JESUS MOCKED IN HOUSE OF CAIPHAS 

ing Thee. Every time I have committed sin have I not 
preferred to Thee a vile, fleeting creature, on which I have 
fixed that love which was entirely due to Thee ? 

Since I first began to sin I have continued, and I still 
continue, to offend Thee every day ; and what punishments 
have I not deserved, and do I not still deserve, for the low 
esteem which until now I have had for Thy divine Majesty? 
And yet, with what patience hast Thou not constantly en- 
dured me ? I thank Thee, I adore Thee, I repent of all my 
sins and ask pardon of Thy mercy, protesting for the time 
to come that I shall, with Thy assistance, esteem and love 
Thee above all things. Make me, I beseech Thee, thorough- 
ly comprehend Thy greatness and bounty, which is 
supremely deserving of love, in order that I may love it 
with all the power of my heart. 

All my sins spring from the inordinate love I have for 
myself. Therefore I shall reflect, what am I, and what is 
God? Ah ! this self, this wretched self, is this to be placed 
in comparison with God in my esteem and love? 

III. The first indignity mentioned by the Evangelists 
as inflicted on J esus, in the hall of Caiphas, was to spit in 
His face. This had already been foretold by Him in the 
discourses which He held with His Apostles on His Passion, 
saying to them that the Son of Man should be mocked and 
spit upon by His enemies. Spitting in a man's face is an 
affront in the highest degree offensive ; it expresses nothing 
but supreme contempt and the utmost detestation, for 
phlegm is something most foul and disgusting and induces 
nausea. In good society we are accustomed to turn aside 
to spit, so that we may not even be remarked; whence, 
spitting in any one's face denotes that this face is, in the 
extreme, vile and worthless. Such, then, in the opinion 
of those men, is the most noble countenance of J esus Christ, 
which each of them defiles with his beastly phlegm. 

And Jesus, how does He resent an outrage of this sort? 
He holds His face unmoved, as the Prophet had foreseen, 
to receive upon it all this filth. Considering, indeed, as He 
does, the nature of the injury, the baseness and insolence 



JESUS MOCKED IN HOUSE OF OAIPHAS 225 

of those who inflict it, He experiences therefrom the most 
grievous pain. But at the same time He voluntarily en- 
dures it with acts of virtue the most perfect. In His soul 
He suffers, and at the same time He rejoices, as His enjoy- 
ment of bliss has not the effect of preventing His Passion ; 
so, likewise, this same Passion is in no way prevented by 
the virtue that He practises. In our case virtue serves to 
mitigate pain, in the case of Jesus Christ it only serves to 
aggravate it. 

Enter, my soul, into the soul of Jesus and make His 
thoughts thine own. Who is it that is outraged by being 
spit upon? The only-begotten Son of God, the brightness 
of eternal light, the mirror without spot, in which the 
Majesty of God may be viewed. Who is it that casts on 
Him this outrage ? A lawless, most vile crew of the basest 
class among the people. To what end does He permit Him- 
self to be thus outraged? Christian soul of mine, thou 
knowest it well. Jesus Christ allows Himself to be thus 
spit upon, with such indignity, to save Thee from eternal 
shame, which thou hast merited by sin. He lets Himself 
be spit upon to wash thee by this spittle from thy filth. 

Unhappy being that I am ! How can I remain any longer 
destitute of love and see myself so loved by my divine 
Saviour? How can I, so full of pride, contemplate hu- 
mility like His? My God, I turn to Thee this time once 
more in prayer. What am I saying — this time, — once 
more? If Thy infinite goodness is not weary with doing 
me favors, why should I be weary of asking for them? I 
ask Thee, therefore, and I shall continue to ask Thee as 
long as I live, for the grace to love Thee and to be humble ; 
the grace to pray to Thee for this grace, with the affection 
and fervor that Thou desirest to find in me when I pray. 

In imagining to myself the Jews spitting on the face of 
Jesus Christ, I shall acknowledge that it is I who deserve 
all this spittle, worthless sinner that I am ! I shall, more- 
over, excite myself to sorrow for my sins. 

IV. Let us not abandon Jesus Christ under the shame 
of that spittle which is cast upon His face. He is afflicted 



226 JESUS MOCKED IN HOUSE OF CAIPHAS 



beyond measure in His soul. There is no man to whom any 
injury, whatever it be, can occasion such affliction as He 
feels from each one of these multiplied insults, since no 
man exists who, with all his pride and arrogance, can form 
so lively an apprehension of the grievousness of affronts as 
He forms in His humility. But let us look attentively at 
His sacred face, thus covered with foul, thick phlegm. 
King David seems, long before, to have pictured that 
countenance, saying that among all the sons of men there 
was no one of aspect so beautiful, so comely, so noble as He. 
Behold it now, precisely as foreseen by the Prophet Isaias, 
as that of an infected leper whose natural features can no 
longer be recognized, all covered over with foul incrusta- 
tions. 

Ye heavens, thou earth, angels, men, are you not horrified 
at so strange a disfigurement? Look down, God of 
glory, Eternal Father! And is this the face of Thy 
beloved Son, resplendent as the sun ! that face in which a 
short while before Thou didst take delight on Mount 
Tabor? But away with this wonder, my soul! This 
face of Jesus Christ, all defiled as it is with phlegm, is not 
a whit less fair and pleasing now than it was when it ap- 
peared in the Transfiguration, all dazzling with bright rays 
of glory. Seest thou not how there shine in it meekness, 
humility, patience? It is not the beauty of the features, 
but of virtues, that gives delight to God. 

Let us bear in mind that nothing of all that Jesus Christ 
suffers is through necessity, but by a virtuous choice of His 
own will. There falls not on His face one discharge of 
phlegm but what He chooses ; and He lays it all by, in the 
treasury of His Passion, to make more and more plentiful 
the Eedemption of the world. my Jesus ! no less adora- 
ble when encompassed by the Jews and covered with 
phlegm, than Thou art in heaven with angels for Thy 
retinue, amid the splendors of the saints ! 

I adore Thee in Thy ignominies, by which Thou hast 
merited, both for Thy Humanity and ours, an all-glorious 
eternity. I thank Thee for the unconquerable patience 



JESUS MOCKED IN BOUSE OF CAIPHAS 



with which Thou hast endured to be so shamefully dis- 
graced for my love and for my welfare. Ah! my Jesus! 
Thou hast turned away Thy face neither from the mock- 
eries nor the spittle of the merciless ; turn it not, I beseech 
Thee, away from me. Turn it away from my sins, but not 
from myself, and impart to me those graces of which I have 
need for my eternal salvation. 

I have, indeed, great need of patience on many occasions 
that daily occur. On this virtue I shall frequently renew 
my resolutions, reflecting upon the examples given me by 
Jesus Christ. 

V. Another injury done to Jesus Christ is striking Him 
with the fist on the neck, the shoulders, the breast, and 
giving Him buffets on the face. These worthless mis- 
creants take delight in maltreating Him, and contending, 
one against another, which shall do it the most barbarously. 
Already He had foretold this by the mouth of the Prophet : 
I have given My body to the strikers, and My cheeks to 
them that plucked them. I have not turned away My face 
from them that rebuked Me, and spit upon Me. 1 And oh ! 
how abundantly do we see this prophecy accomplished. No 
one among men was ever so dishonored and disfigured with 
bruises, deforming His whole countenance, as was the Ke- 
deemer of the world. So that Isaias had good reason to 
say that no one could meditate on these ignominies without 
being astounded. 

And, in truth, is it not a subject calculated to overwhelm 
us with amazement to see those inhuman Jews with spitting 
and blows venting their savage rage on that most sacred 
face, in whose awful presence the sea grows calm, and the 
sun shuts its eyes, that it may not behold it? sacred 
Face ! worthy of the reverence and adoration of the entire 
world, why remainest thou unabashed and imperturbable 
in the midst of all these mockeries and insults? Nothing 
less, surely, than the patience of a God suffered thee to 
endure them. 

But what, beyond all, is a subject of admiration to me is 
(0 Isaias 1, 6. 



228 JESUS MOCKED IN HOUSE OF CAIPHAS 



that this marvelous patience is exercised by Jesus Christ 
for me. To me — to me, — on account of my iniquities, was 
due that furious tempest of spitting, blows and cuffs ; and 
oh! that the King of glory should be content to take my 
place and subject Himself for me to sufferings so painful 
and so ignominious ; for me, His most unworthy, most un- 
grateful creature ! my soul ! redeemed by thy Lord with 
so much love, lift up thy voice and invite all nations to 
unite with thee in praising and magnifying the divine 
Goodness. 

We know a man by looking in his face. What then have 
we to do but to look now at the face of Jesus Christ in 
order to know Him as Our Saviour. Ah, yes, my Jesus ! 
when I look on Thee so brutally injured in Thy face, which 
is the most honorable part of Thy body, and see Thee all 
the while so meek, so patient, so humble, I acknowledge 
Thee, I proclaim Thee, I adore Thee as my Saviour. By 
the merits of all Thy virtues I beseech Thee to be truly 
and in effect a Saviour to me. Grant that I may save my- 
self, and since I shall never save myself unless I resolve to 
imitate Thee, inspire me with those holy resolutions which 
Thou knowest to be necessary for me and give me strength 
worthily to fulfil them. 

I shall make a particular resolution to endure, for the 
love of Jesus Christ, contradictions and offences, as He 
endured so many and such grievous trials for me. This is 
what He teaches me, and what is requisite for my salvation. 

VI. The Jews are enraged that Jesus Christ should be 
patient and gentle under their ill-usage, making no com- 
plaints, showing no irritation nor disgust. They do not 
know that He bears it all by His own free will; and they 
grow more and more furious and revengeful at His patience 
and meekness. These impious wretches exert their perverse 
ingenuity to invent new modes of manifesting their con- 
tempt, but the heroic virtue of Jesus continues undimin- 
ished. They now take a soiled rag, which they throw over 
His head to cover His face ; then, with loud bursts of laugh- 
ter, they jeer and make game of Him, and" striking Him, 



JESUS MOCKED IN HOUSE OF CAIPHAS 229 

they say insultingly : Prophesy unto us, Christ, who is 
he that struck Thee f 1 

Thus the Lord of the Prophets is derided as if He were a 
false Prophet; the Master of wisdom and the Director of 
the wise is treated as if He were a fool. That God who 
searches hearts and bestows the spirit of prophecy on whom 
He will, how can He be ignorant who it is that strikes 
Him? And yet they make game and sport of Him as 
if He were a clown, an ignoramus, a fool. my soul! 
wilt thou not weep to behold the Son of the Most High re- 
duced to so miserable a condition ? If He was filled with 
sadness in the garden at the prospect of these mockeries, 
and therefore prayed to be delivered from them, what must 
be His affliction now that He experiences them ? 

Suffering Jesus ! from the bottom of my heart I com- 
passionate Thee, and when on the one hand I consider Thy 
pains, on the other Thy virtues, I am confounded to see 
myself so bad a Christian, one who can not do himself the 
least violence to imitate Thy example. Thou hadst but to 
will it and Thou mightest, in a moment, avenge Thyself on 
these wretches who so outrage Thee, by commanding the 
earth and hell to open their mouth and swallow them. And 
yet Thou dost prefer to suffer and to be silent, as the weak- 
est and most helpless man in the world. And I, with this 
Thy example before my eyes, how do I act? Oftentimes 
I have humility on my lips and pride in my heart. I ex- 
pect others to have patience with me, and I refuse to have it 
with others. I feel keenly everything which hurts my 
reputation and my honor. I can not endure nor withhold 
a single word, nor overcome human respect, for Thy love. 
Ah, my Jesus! give me that meekness which Thou hast 
practically taught me so well by Thy example. I desire to 
imitate Thee herein, and I beg and entreat Thee for those 
helps which Thou hast merited for me. I hope for them, 
and I also hope for that efficacious assistance that will 
cause me to cooperate with them. 

Inasmuch as I desire to be blessed, I shall cherish in my 

(0 St. Matt, xxvi, 68. 



£30 MOCKED IN HOUSE OF CAIPHA& 



heart the Beatitudes preached and practised by JesuS 
Christ. Blessed are the humble, blessed are the meek, 
blessed are the peacemakers, blessed are they who suffer 
patiently for the love of God. 

VII. Let us stand still, my soul, and reflect on Jesus 
Christ with His face thus muffled. The reason that the 
J ews have it covered in this manner is because they can no 
longer endure that modesty, that sweetness and serenity 
which, with their beams, pierce and begin to soften their 
hearts. They wish to ill-treat Him freely, without re- 
straint, and therefore they veil His face that they may 
not be checked in their exertions by those rays of grace 
and benignity that proceed from it. What strange and 
monstrous wickedness, to hate the patience of God, and 
to be in fear of grace lest it touch our heart! But with 
regard to Jesus Christ Himself, what is His design in 
suffering His face to be covered? It is that He may re- 
move from us the darksome veil of ignorance and con- 
cupiscence that wretchedly overhangs and keeps us from 
the sight of the things of God. Oh, what obligations have 
we to Our Saviour's mercy that has merited for us so 
great an abundance of graces, inspirations, and lights ! 

But unhappily, we, like the Jews, purposely hide from 
ourselves the divine presence, renewing, as far as in us lies, 
the very same mockeries that J esus Christ suffered at their 
hands. Whatever may be the case with others, I shall speak 
for myself. I have covered up and struck blows at the face 
of Jesus Christ every time that I have given a rein to my 
passions and consented to sin. On those occasions I have 
acted as if God were not present to behold me. From the 
neglect of keeping the divine presence has arisen every one 
of the disorders of my life. But, blind that I am! do I 
imagine that because I have not chosen to think of God, 
therefore God has not had eyes to observe me ? 

my God ! I repent of my wickedness and implore Thy 
pardon. I beseech Thee to confirm me in the faith of Thy 
adorable presence. I believe, Lord ! that as by Thy eter- 
nity Thou dost exist at all times, so by Thy immensity 



JESUS MOCKED IN THE HOUSE OF CAIPHAS 231 



Thou art in all places. I believe that by Thy essence Thou 
art within me and without me; that Thou seest all that I 
do, and hast the same attention to search out and mark 
all that passes within me as if I were alone in the world. 
Yes, Thou seest me. I believe this of Thee as of my God 
and my Judge, who requires no witnesses to inform Him 
of the truth. Thou art present within me in every place, 
even the most retired; in every hour, even the most dark- 
some. I bear Thee within me in every faculty of my soul, 
in every sense of my body ; and I can do nothing but what 
is done in the presence of Thy Majesty, that sees me, that 
penetrates me, and that is within me more truly than I am 
within myself. Ah, my Jesus, most holy ! grant that these 
sentiments of faith may be continually impressed upon my 
soul ; then I shall have need of no other curb to restrain me 
from evil, of no other spur to animate me to good. 

The secret of my eternal salvation lies in the practice of 
the presence of God. Therefore I shall form the constant 
habit of this exercise of faith. God is present with me, and 
He sees me. He is without excuse who neglects to make it. 

VIII. No tongue can describe what Jesus Christ suffered 
during the remainder of that night, in the house of C alphas. 
Hence St. Luke, after mentioning the spitting and blows 
and mockeries, concludes by saying that the J ews continued 
to insult and torment Him in many other ways, especially 
with a load of blasphemies. To understand all the patience 
that He practised beyond that that can be related, it 
suffices to contemplate Him in such a condition as will 
respond fully to what is said by the Prophets, that He is 
truly of all men the most despised, the most lightly es- 
teemed, as if He were the last of the sons of Adam ; a man 
made for ignominy as a worm of the dunghill, who is no 
longer reputed as a man, who is the reproach of men and 
the byword of the people ; or, as it were, a brute beast. In 
fine, a man beneath all men; so humbled, so inglorious, 
that His abjection brings Him to the confines of nothing- 
ness. 1 

C 1 ) Xsaias liu 



232 JESUS MOCKED IN THE HOUSE OF CAIPHAS 

The Prophets and the Evangelists have assiduously re- 
corded concerning Our Saviour many circumstances of 
ignomhry, and they have not been ashamed to make them 
known. They have done this, as well on account of esteem- 
ing it exceedingly glorious to God to set forth to what a 
point He has carried His charity by choosing to suffer such 
things for us, as also considering it advantageous to us that 
we might in this way be animated to admire and to return 
thanks unceasingly to the Man-God for all the pains and re- 
proaches that He has deigned to endure for our eternal 
salvation; at the same time, that we might learn not only 
not to be ashamed, but moreover to glory and be com- 
forted if we are judged worthy to follow His example in 
being treated as He was. 

Therefore I thank Thee, most loving Jesus! for all the 
pains, in body and soul, that Thou hast undergone for me, 
and I pray Thee graciously to accept these my thanks al- 
though they be offered with a spirit and a heart so pusillani- 
mous and lukewarm. I long to imitate Thee in bearing 
contempt and humiliation for Thy sake. I know that 
from one hour to another these occasions may unexpectedly 
arise, and shall I in that case have the resolution to carry 
out what I now desire? My God, I distrust myself and 
trust in Thee ! Prepare my heart that I may no longer ac- 
count humility to be meanness, but that it may rather be 
my glory. Strengthen my feeble spirit, for I shall never be 
courageous in any encounter whatever unless Thou givest 
me courage. 

I shall reflect well on what Jesus Christ has suffered for 
me, and by this thought I shall dispose myself, on my part, 
to suffer something for Him. If I find, after all, that I 
am not so disposed, I shall at least humble myself to detest 
my pride and ingratitude. 

IX. Jesus Christ suffered much during this night from 
the malice of men, but not less, also, from that of the 
princes of darkness; divine Wisdom having ordained 
that the infernal enemies should exert all their efforts 
against Him in order that they might be conquered and 



JESUS MOCKED IN THE HOUSE OF CAIPHAS 233 



confounded by our nature, which they had esteemed weak, 
but would now find too strong for them. The Saviour's 
purpose is to fortify us against all the artifices of the devil, 
and as it is by the artifice of the devil that we are so ex- 
ceedingly sensitive and weak in regard to our honor that 
we can not bear an affront, and exaggerate to ourselves 
every trifle until it appears to be something great. He has 
been pleased to suffer every species of dishonor and ig- 
nominy that the devil could invent, in order that we might 
become strong to overcome all his temptations. 

In opposition to every injury that He receives Jesus 
Christ exercises every kind of virtue ; not, indeed, one after 
another as we might do, but by the immense capacity of His 
mind He exercises them all at once and without intermis- 
sion — nature, grace, habitual virtue, and the gifts of the 
Holy Ghost, — all producing their effects in an incompre- 
hensible manner, with the utmost degree of energy and 
perfection. He apprehends every injury in a way to ex- 
aggerate its bitterness to the utmost degree, and at the 
same time making an act of humility, an act of love, of 
obedience, of resignation to His Father, an act of charity 
toward us, of sorrow for our sins, of oblation and of prayer 
for us. He goes on every moment repeating these and other 
most perfect acts of virtue, — at the same time applying to 
our advantage the infinite amount of all His merits in such 
a manner that the exercise of virtue, by the powers of His 
soul, is in noways prevented or checked by the afflictions 
and infirmities of sense. 

J esus, how many are the virtues of Thy soul ! How 
many vices are in mine ! I acknowledge myself most un- 
worthy to remain in Thy presence, and I would wish that I 
might be allowed to take that veil which hides the beauty of 
Thy countenance, in order with it to cover all my deformi- 
ties so hateful to Thy Majesty. Yet what veil can conceal 
anything from Thy all-penetrating eyes ? I ought to think 
of cleansing, not of covering myself. And who can cleanse 
me if not Thou, by the application of Thy merits and the 
infusion of Thy love ? It is the property of love to purify 



234 JESUS MOCKED IN THE HOUSE OF CAIPHA8 

the soul in one moment from its loathsomeness. Grant me, 
then, I pray Thee, this love, that through it my sins may be 
pardoned and my soul may be fortified, so that I may never 
again offend Thee. 

I will love my God, and with this love I shall vanquish 
every vice and every temptation, especially that inordinate 
love that I cherish for honor and esteem. 

X. Although, at His apprehension, J esus was abandoned 
by all His friends, he was, nevertheless, followed by St. 
Peter and another disciple, who is thought to have been St. 
John. The latter, entering into the hall of the high-priest, 
was a spectator of all that happened to His divine Master, 
and it may be piously believed that he returned to give an 
account thereof to the Blessed Virgin. Behold, then, my 
soul, the Mother of J esus filled with anguish ! Eeflect with 
what grief her heart must have been inundated at the de- 
scription that St. John gives of all that had been done 
against the person of her beloved Son, — first in the garden, 
then in the house of Annas, and later on in that of Caiphas. 

What sighs, what sobs, what pangs of grief ! That loving 
Mother seems to be present at all she hears, and in mourn- 
ful accents she breaks forth to address at one time her Son, 
at another, the angels. A cold sweat and a death-like pallor 
appear on her countenance; a sign of that racking sorrow 
foretold by the Prophet Simeon, which, as a sword, passes 
through her very soul. But she is not troubled nor dis- 
quieted ; and, penetrating with a divine light what passes in 
the interior of her Son, she unites herself to Him by a 
perfect imitation. She bows to the decree of man's Ee- 
demption ; and, as at the time of the Incarnation, she again 
testifies her acceptance of it : " Behold the handmaid of 
the Lord ; be it done to me according to Thy word." 1 By 
heroic acts she endeavors to practise the virtues of her Son, 
and in the ardor of a most tender compassion she makes His 
sufferings her own, and applies and offers them to the 
Eternal Father for us. 

Mother, of all mothers the most blessed and the most 

(') St, Luke i, 38, 



JEWS HOLD COUNCIL FOR CONDEMNATION 235 

afflicted, what obligations do I not owe thee ! And oh, how 
ungrateful should I be if I did not correspond with thy 
love ! I blush at the thought that, since thou hast suffered 
so much for me, I have not even the heart to compassionate 
thee. Ah, Mary ! thou seest that I am altogether insensible 
to thy sorrows, but do thou render me sensible of them by 
imparting to me a portion of thy love. Grant, at least, that 
I may weep instead of thee over the Passion of thy Son; 
for it behooveth me to weep, rather than thee, since thou 
art all pure and innocent and I am that sinner on whose 
account J esus suffers. Mother of Mercy, if I can not com- 
passionate thee, do thou use compassion toward me and 
with thine eyes of mercy look on me in my spiritual mis- 
eries, which are many and extreme, and vouchsafe to grant 
me thy assistance. 

Having already chosen Mary for my spiritual Patroness, 
I shall now adopt her as my special Advocate, in order to 
obtain for me those graces that are requisite to render the 
meditation of Our Lord's Passion fruitful to myself. 



CHAPTEE XXXI. 

THE JEWS HOLD A COUNCIL FOR THE CONDEMNATION" OF 

JESUS. 

I. That night so painful to Our Lord having run its 
course, the chief priests, the doctors of the law, and the 
ancients of the people, reassemble at dawn of day to form a 
public and general council against the innocent J esus. The 
consultation held the preceding night, amidst tumult and 
uproar, had not the form of justice. Hence they meet 
again, in order that the procedure may seem to be according 
to law and equity, and that they may not be accused of 
acting unjustly. It is probable that, instead of sleeping, 
they had been plotting how they might effect the condemna- 
tion of Jesus ; and now there is no necessity that Caiphas 



236 JEWS HOLD COUNCIL FOR CONDEMNATION 



should send to hasten their arrival, for no sooner has day 
dawned than they are on the alert. 

The eagerness they have to make away with Jesus by 
means of false accusations proceeds entirely from the hatred 
they harbor against Him, and this hatred has no other 
motive than that, by His example and His doctrine, He has 
been a reproof to their ambition and hypocrisy. They hate 
Him, not by reason of any hateful quality they have dis- 
covered in Him, but solely that for the glory of God He has 
announced the truth to them. Unreasonable, perverse 
hatred ! 

But, my soul, does not this take place every hour ? J esus 
Christ is hated by all sinners in regard to that virtue in 
Him which is opposed to their peculiar vice. The proud 
hate Jesus in His humility, the revengeful hate Him in 
His meekness and charity, the unchaste in His purity. 
And, to speak in general, He is hated in His light and truth 
by all bad Christians who yield themselves a prey to the 
dark deeds of sin. 

Jesus, true Light, holy Truth, how long have I also 
continued to hate Thee ! For all these years during which 
I have persevered in my vicious course it may, with truth, 
be said that I have actually hated Thee, since I have per- 
secuted Thee in Thy virtues, in Thy counsels, and in Thy 
commandments. And since I have dedicated myself to Thy 
service, oh, how much has this heart of mine been inclined 
rather to hate than to love Thee ! With my lips I profess 
to love Thee, but in reality I love Thee not, for when I am 
called upon to obey Thee, I am slothful and sluggish, but 
when the gratification of some passion is the object, I am 
all haste and eagerness. I repent of my perfidy; and, 
most loving Saviour ! who hast pity even on those who love 
Thee not, deign to have mercy on me and grant me grace to 
make amends for the baseness of my past life by a holy 
fervor in Thy love. Never shall I love Thee as I ought if I 
love not also Thy virtues. Make me, then, love Thee prac- 
tically. I shall on all occasions endeavor to moderate the 
violence of my passions, and I shall have as much care and 



JEWS HOLD COUNCIL FOR CONDEMNATION 237 

earnest solicitude now to do good as I formerly had to do 
evil. 

II. A council being convened early on Friday morning, 
Jesus is summoned to it in order to undergo a fresh exami- 
nation. A resolution has already been decided upon that 
He shall die, that thus His doctrine, His faith, and His 
name may be at once wholly suppressed. But actually 
having no sufficient evidence against Him, they now make 
their last effort to elicit something like it. The suffering 
Redeemer enters then into the presence of the impious 
judges, dragged forward by brutal officers. Stay, my soul, 
to behold His divine face, — it is livid, swollen, and dis- 
figured by the cruel treatment He has received during the 
night. 

The heart of every one of the judges is hard as a stone, 
and as a smith's anvil, without the slightest feeling of 
compassion or pity for Jesus ; whilst the Heart of Jesus, as 
a burning torch, spreads flames of love on every side. They 
devise injustice and malice in order to outrage and oppress 
the innocence of Jesus, and Jesus humbly presents His 
afflictions to His Eternal Father and commits His cause to 
His hands. To Him does He resign Himself, in Him He 
trusts, and He seeks no other glory than His. 

my soul ! how beautiful it is blindly to resign oneself 
into the hands of God's providence, and heedless of the 
vicissitudes of the world, however painful they may be, to 
commit oneself to the divine protection, to trust in the 
Almighty for support and to allow Him, according to His 
good pleasure, to dispose of us in all things as regards our 
soul and body, our honor and worldly goods, life and death, 
time and eternity. This is the virtue that Jesus teaches us 
in order that we may enjoy the sweetness of Paradise even 
in this valley of tears. But oh, how little of this virtue is 
there in my heart ! I possess not even the shadow of it. 

To Thee, then, my Jesus ! do I humbly have recourse, 
that Thou mayest give me strength to practise it. Ah, my 
God, " my hope from the breast of my mother/' in whom 
can I trust if I trust not in Thee, who wishest me all good ? 



238 JEWS HOLD COUNCIL FOR CONDEMNATION 



On Thee do I cast my care in all events, and as I desire 
solely to please Thee, to Thee do I commend myself in all 
and for all, being well persuaded that whatever shall be 
Thy dispositions in my regard they will be for the best. I 
fear lest my present determination should not be persever- 
ing. But for this also do I look to Thee that Thou wilt, in 
Thy goodness, confirm my instability. 

I shall forecast all the circumstances that may occur to 
cause me anguish, and I shall make renewed acts of con- 
fidence in God to meet all adversities, spiritual or corporal, 
be they what they may. 

TIL Neither Lucifer nor any one else has ever been able 
to discover the shadow of a fault in Jesus, but the Jews are 
determined to find Him guilty of a capital crime, expiatory 
only by death. Therefore, they urge Him to declare 
whether or not He is the Christ, — that is, the King of 
Israel promised by God to David, — in order that, in case He 
replies in the affirmative, they may have matter to accuse 
Him before ^Pilate as a usurper of the kingly power and 
guilty of a crime which threatens the well-being of the 
State. But what reply does Jesus give ? Thou hast said it. 
Nevertheless I say to you, hereafter you shall see the Son 
of man sitting on the right hand of the power of God, and 
corning in the clouds of heaven. 1 Oh, words of Truth eter- 
nal, calculated to produce profound impression and terror ! 
However, these men find in them only the occasion of fresh 
transports of rage, and hearing that Jesus will come in the 
majesty of a Judge they thus insultingly address Him: 
Art Thou then the Christ the Son of the blessed God? 2 
Observe their affected blindness. They have light enough 
to infer that because He is the Judge of the world, He 
must consequently be God. Yet, they have not the percep- 
tion thence to conclude that He must be adored and feared. 
They might and they ought to have believed in Him; but 
they would not, in order that they might not feel themselves 
constrained by His Gospel to break those bonds which link 
them to their vicious passions. 

(>) St, Matt, xxvi, 64. ( 2 ) St, Mark xiv, 61, 



JEWS HOLD COUNCIL FOR CONDEMNATION 239 



Oh, unhappy the soul that, by a just judgment of God, 
has reached the point of not fearing the judgment of God ! 
A terrible infliction is this, followed afterward by impeni- 
tence, obstinacy, and damnation. I should then reflect 
upon myself and provide against my own danger. Do I 
really believe that truth of faith, that Jesus Christ is to 
come in power and majesty to judge me ? Do I frequently 
call it to mind in order to fear it and to regulate my life 
according to it? 

Ah, my J esus ! Thou seest my supine neglect. And how 
can I hope that Thou wilt be my Saviour if I fear Thee not 
as my Judge? Give me lively faith and great fear, that 
in all I say or do or think I may represent to myself Thy 
justice as if before my eyes. In granting me this Thy 
mercy will be exceedingly great. Grant me now to know 
the number and the enormity of my sins, and let my heart 
be penetrated with this sentiment : What shall become of 
me, laden as I am with iniquity, when Thou shalt come to 
judge me? Thou wert pleased to be judged by men to 
render me secure in Thy own divine and awful judgment. 
In order, then, that I may be grateful to Thee, grant me to 
appreciate so immense a benefit. 

The fruit to be derived from fear should be sorrow for 
the past and a resolution to make better use of the time to 
come. The judgment of God will be rigorous, and rigorous 
should I be in examining myself. 

IV. To the question addressed to Him whether He be 
the Son of God, Our Saviour answers with earnestness and 
confirms the truth of what they themselves had said. Then 
all — priests, Scribes, and ancients — cry out as if in 
frenzy: He hath blasphemed; what further need have we 
of witnesses? Behold, now you have heard the blasphemy. 1 
And with unanimous accord, without one even to speak in 
His favor, they pronounce Him guilty and deserving of 
death, as the Prophets had long before predicted. 

What an atrocity, to judge worthy of death that life 
which is the most precious of all lives and the very source 

(0 St. Matt, xxvi, 65. 



240 JEWS HOLD COUNCIL FOR CONDEMNATION 



of life itself, from which all who live derive their life ! The 
devils, with fear and trembling, have acknowledged Jesus 
to be their Judge and their God; and shall the Jews, for the 
very reason that He declares Himself their Judge and their 
God, call Him a seducer, a blasphemer, and, consequently, 
condemn Him to death ? J ustly does the revelation of the 
highest mysteries made to them by Our Saviour turn to 
their greater condemnation. 

But let us not be incensed against the Jews. When J esus 
hears the unjust sentence, does He resent it? Does He 
make any appeal, or claim time to make His defence? 
With humble prudence, and prudent humility, He remains 
silent and bows to the most just decree of His Eternal 
Father. But to Thee, Eternal Father, with profound 
submission do I turn. It is I who have sinned. I am that 
wretch who has merited death. And what evil has Thy 
most innocent Son done? Ah, let Thy hand be turned 
against me and let Thy Son be spared ! 

I speak of myself ; that is, of this my old man, whom I 
have within me in my rebellious appetites ; of that man that 
transgressed in Adam, the enemy and contemner of God, the 
worshipper of self, the lover of the world, the slave of the 
flesh and of the devil. Yes, this man, my soul! if thou 
art wise, denounce as worthy of death. And do Thou, 
my God, strengthen me to mortify, subject, and annihilate 
him, since he is so proud and insolent that he would fain 
make war even against Thee. Thou knowest what I mean 
by this my inward man, which is a monstrous compound of 
sin, vice, and irregular passions. Let the rebel die, who 
deserves a thousand deaths, and let Jesus, who is worthy of 
eternal life, live in His most sacred Humanity ; and let my 
soul also live, having been created and redeemed by Thee to 
enjoy Thee throughout an eternity of glory. 

This old man, this son of Adam, is destroyed by sincere 
penitence of heart, mortification of the senses and renunci- 
ation of self-will. Therefore, I shall now renew my reso- 
lutions. 



JESUS DENIED BY ST. PETER 



241 



CHAPTEE XXXII. 

JESUS DENIED BY ST. PETER. 

I. At the same time that Jesus is overwhelmed with in- 
sults and blows, in the house of Caiphas, He suffers a 
shameful disgrace by the thrice-repeated denial of Peter. 
A few hours previously this Apostle was forewarned by 
Our Saviour of what would befall him. Three times did 
He admonish him in the garden to prepare for temptation, 
and precisely three times did he miserably fall. For, being 
asked on three different occasions whether he was a dis- 
ciple of Jesus, he boldly answers in the negative. Then, to 
gain credit for his denial, he breaks out into furious oaths 
and imprecations, and protests that he knows not even who 
the Man is. 

This is what St. Peter says of his own accord, though no 
one is near to terrify him or to force him to it by authority 
or threats, but simply in reply to the questions of two silly 
women and of an idle and insignificant servant. What 
would the bystanders say to such a reply, many of them 
having observed him passing through the city in company 
with Jesus; and, but a short time before, having seen him 
in the garden with Him ? In such circumstances the world 
is wont to judge the worst. 

Consider, my soul, how this must have redounded to 
the dishonor of Jesus; for as inquiry was being made for 
evidence against Him to prove that He was a wicked man, 
was it not strong evidence to hear Peter speak as if he were 
ashamed and grieved for having been of the number of 
His followers? But let us reflect. If it is said of Peter 
that he denied Christ by denying that he was His disciple, 
how many are there amongst Christians who, worse than 
Peter, deny Him continually by their wicked life, giving 
the lie to their Christian profession. 

I am one of these, my most adorable Saviour! who 
have perfidiously denied Thee, not three times only, but as 
often as I have sinned mortally by the transgression of Thy 
holy commands. Peter denied Thee only through incon- 



242 



JESUS DEXIED BY ST. PETER 



stancy and frailty, and not with his heart but solely with 
his lips. But I have denied Thee through actual malice. 
I have denied Thee in word and in deed, and even with my 
heart, by deliberately consenting to sin and fixing my affec- 
tions thereon. Oh, what cause have I. therefore, to anni- 
hilate myself in humility ! Ah, my J esus, let my iniquities 
make me see how vile I am. One fruit that I shall derive 
from Thy Passion shall be that a knowledge of sin will 
make me humble. 

I shall dwell upon the consideration of the nature and 
number of my sins in order to exercise myself in acts of 
sorrow and humility. The more I have sinned, the more 
contrite and humble I ought to be. 

II. Jesus stands in the council-hall, whilst Peter denies 
Him at the entrance without. Still with His divine spirit 
He sees all that befalls His Apostle. He sees his denials 
and the perjuries that accompany them; and that, since 
they are mortal sins, they deprive him of the grace of 
God. If the mere forecast of them in the garden caused 
Our Saviour such deep affliction and horror, what must His 
loving Heart have felt when they took place ? 

Jesus is a prisoner and an object of derision, whilst Peter 
swears, and falsely swears, that he knows Him not. He 
opens not His mouth to complain of the injuries and suffer- 
ings He endures, yet He can not refrain from bitterly 
lamenting, through His Prophets, the conduct of Peter, as 
though He would say : That My enemies should abuse Me 
by words and deeds is not a subject of wonder, for it is 
nothing but what T might expect from their envy, now 
degenerated into mortal hatred; but that thou, Peter, 
My intimate friend and My companion, chosen by Me to be 
the guide of the Faithful, that thou, instead of yielding up 
thy life for the confession of My name, shouldst go so far 
as to deny Me ! Oh. this is what afflicts Me and goes to My 
very Heart! It pierces Me to the quick to behold Myself 
abandoned by all My friends. But that thou, Peter, the 
most beloved of all, shouldst deny Me and slight Me! 
These three denials are so many nails that attach Me to a 



JESUS DENIED BY ST. PETER 



243 



more painful cross than that which the J ews are preparing 
for Me. 

Thus, we may imagine, does J esns grieve over Peter, and 
He grieves also over me who am no less present to His 
memory. my Jesus! I believe that Thou wert indeed 
more afflicted by my sins than by all the ill-usage that Thou 
didst receive at the hands of the J ews. Sufferings, I know, 
are dear to Thee and sweet, as they are the desired objects 
of Thy love ; but sin, because it is opposed to Thy immense 
charity, I know to be hateful to Thee, and especially my 
sins, as they are unspeakably the most grievous. I weigh 
the grievousness of my offences by the greatness and multi- 
tude of the benefits Thou hast conferred upon me. Oh, how 
many and how great are the favors Thy mercy has lavished 
upon me ! And oh, how grievous also are my sins, stamped 
as they are with the mark of the basest ingratitude ! Ah, 
my Saviour, grant me to appreciate the value of those 
graces with which Thou hast befriended and honored me, 
and thus I shall moreover be enabled to know the excess 
of my malice in committing sin ; and then, with such lights, 
my cold heart can not but be animated to love Thee and to 
grieve for having offended Thee. 

Frequently I lament that I have no sentiment of love 
toward God, nor of sorrow for my sins. Behold, then, what 
I must do. I shall meditate upon the immensity of the 
divine beneficence in my regard. 

III. Who could imagine that Peter, who but a short 
time before had confessed the Divinity of the Saviour, and 
had protested that he would rather die than offend Him, 
should now deny Him, driven thereto by the voice of a con- 
temptible maid-servant ? Who could have imagined that 
Peter, preferred by His Master to the other Apostles and 
appointed the head and pillar of the Church, should thus 
hasten from one fall to another into the deep abyss of im- 
piety, and deserve, in punishment of his denial, to be denied 
by his Saviour in the presence of His Eternal Father? 

Oh, dreadful subject of consideration ! Even children, 
for confessing Christ, are destined afterward to enter into 



244 



JESUS DENIED BY ST. PETER 



heaven adorned with the crown of martyrdom; and Peter, 
who holds the keys of the heavenly kingdom, by an act of 
his own will, as far as regards what he now deserves shuts 
the door upon himself. He can not be excused from the 
guilt of mortal sin ; with the utmost astonishment we must 
avow it. And how is it possible that so great a sin should 
be committed, even by the Prince of the Apostles? How 
could it be ? It would seem that not even the Evangelists 
themselves who have given us the account could comprehend 
it. Nevertheless, it is as true as the Gospel. 

And what inference may we draw from this ? None other 
than the following: Behold how weak is our nature in 
itself if God does but for a moment withdraw from us His 
divine assistance. What happened to Peter may at any time 
happen to another, however spiritual and perfect or how 
far advanced in sanctity he may be. Much more easily may 
the same befall me, who have in myself no mark whatever of 
sanctity. 

Ah, my God ! without Thy helping hand and Thy grace 
what am I but what Peter was when he denied and again 
denied, when he swore and swore again, that he did not so 
much as know the Saviour of the world? Peter had ac- 
quired many virtues in the school of His divine Master, but 
they were of no avail to support him the very first moment 
that virtue from on high failed him. And what then 
can I hope from myself, wretched and miserable as I am, 
devoid of all virtues and talents ? When I see a St. Peter 
fall, filled with dread, I humble myself before Thee, 
Lord, and I exclaim : Have pity on me, and help me, for 
what iniquity may I not commit if Thy assistance fails me ? 

I shall conceive a fear of myself on account of my lia- 
bility to run headlong into mortal sin when I least suspect 
it, and I shall supplicate the divine assistance through the 
merits of Christ. 

IV. Doubtless the primary cause of Peter's fall must 
have been some secret pride. For, ordinarily speaking, a 
man indulges pride in some shape or other before he falls 
headlong into the abyss of sin. There is no doubt that 



JESUS DENIED BY ST. PETER 



245 



pride is so displeasing to God, that He permits these dis- 
astrous falls that it may be humbled and in this manner 
cured. In fact, Peter had that very night proudly boasted 
of himself as if he were impeccable, or as if no temptation 
were able to overcome him. God then permits him, as a 
just punishment of his three acts of presumption, to fall 
into these three denials of his Lord. 

In the time of fervor Peter felt strong, and without any 
reference to God, from whom all strength proceeds, he 
placed reliance upon the good dispositions of his own heart. 
Behold the outcome of his vain confidence : he is terrified by 
a mere woman, — he whose boast was that he feared not the 
whole world. He who thought himself able to undergo a 
thousand deaths for Christ, even he denies Him. For this 
reason all the Evangelists have given us the account of 
Peter's fall that it might serve as a lesson to teach us never 
to boast of ourselves and never to reckon upon our weak 
nature, but always to place our whole confidence in God, 
since it is God alone who, by His grace, can strengthen us. 

I have frequently experienced in myself proofs of that 
truth which is now the subject of my consideration. How 
often, my God, when I thought myself solidly grounded 
in virtue have I found myself unsteady, and have I fallen ! 
And when I imagined I could advance in perfection by my 
own endeavors, how have I retrograded ! My weakness has 
never been more evident than when I presumed upon my 
strength, and never have I had so clear a knowledge of my 
poverty, my folly, and my nothingness than when I have 
entertained a good opinion of myself and have regarded 
myself as of some account. For then it is that my falls 
have taught me, to my cost, what I am. 

Vouchsafe, my God ! to engrave in my soul a practical 
and sensible conviction that of nryself I am good-for-noth- 
ing. For only in proportion to my knowledge of my own 
vileness, frailt} r , and nothingness shall I be induced to rely 
upon Thy infinite goodness. Give sight to my eyes by 
putting upon them the clay of my own baseness and de- 
formity, that from knowing the greatness of my wicked- 



246 



JESUS DEXIED BY ST. PETER 



ness I may rise also to the knowledge of my immense misery 
and of Thy more than boundless mercy. 

I shall reflect upon the vice of presumption, which is so 
little regarded and, nevertheless, so fatal. As often as I 
form or express my intention of doing anything, I shall 
accustom myself always to add, With the help of God. 

V. Ordinarily no one falls all at once from an ardent 
love of God into mortal sin, but he first prepares the way 
by some negligence and tepidity in his devotions. The 
devil does not tempt a man at first to commit grievous sins, 
but he artfully draws him from a less sin to a greater. This 
we may observe in Peter's case. He first of all gives a 
simple denial, then he accompanies that denial with a false 
oath, and finally adds maledictions and execrations upon 
himself. But how did he come to such an excess as to deny 
his Lord? Sloth, laziness, curiosity, pusillanimity — sure 
signs of a fatal tepidity, — had predisposed him to the com- 
mission of a mortal sin. Here we may reflect that to over- 
come a tepid soul any slight temptation is sufficient. 

A short while ago Peter had slept, when he ought to 
have been engaged in prayer. He had been occupied in 
listening to the insipid talk that was carried on at the fire, 
and instead of compassionating Our Saviour's sufferings he 
stood there under the influence of nothing but a mere nat- 
ural curiosity, waiting to see the end of the trial. De- 
pressed in mind, he was afraid of being asked who he was ; 
and having had courage to follow his Master so long as He 
wrought miracles, even in the garden, when he sees His 
honors turned into dishonors he becomes dispirited. He 
behaves as is usual in the world, where men are faithful to 
their friends in prosperity and then in adversity disown 
them. 

A soul thus lukewarm can not be long without mortal sin, 
since through its own fault the helps of grace are gradually 
removed; and such being precisely my tepidity, what un- 
happy forebodings may I not make for myself? I blush, 
my God! and I am confounded. I tremble at the con- 
sideration of the miserable state of my soul, which is alto- 



JESUS DENIED BY ST. PETER 



247 



gether full of slothfulness, laziness, curiosity, and pusil- 
lanimity, easily led to omit prayer and other devotions, 
slow to good, prone to evil, a slave to passion, devoid of 
every virtue, dominated by every species of vice, 

I behold myself on the brink of a precipice, — perhaps 
even an eternal one. Ah, my Lord ! stretch out to me Thy 
helping hand. I have not deserved Thy assistance; nay, 
rather, I deserve to be abandoned and to become a prey to 
sin; but take pity on me. I have confidence in Thy love, 
and by this Thy love I entreat Thee to warm my cold and 
icy heart, so that this tepidity being conquered I may in 
very truth love Thee above all things with my whole heart. 
The sacred fire of this love can alone enkindle within me 
that fervor which is now wanting. 

Tepidity is an evil of which the tepid soul itself is not 
aware. I shall humble myself, then, and deplore my blind- 
ness; for being, as I am, most tepid, I do not recognize 
myself as such. 

VI. The sin of St. Peter is a salutary instruction for one 
who desires to continue in the grace of God. Let us ex- 
amine the reasons why Jesus permitted His Apostle to fall, 
and among others let us be on our guard against the follow- 
ing : Peter was severe in his zeal toward his neighbor. He 
had little of that sweetness and mildness without which a 
man can not compassionate a sinner, nor help him to rise. 
He thought that all those who had had a part in the appre- 
hension of his Master ought to be punished without mercy. 
Therefore, by a wise disposition of divine Providence, 
Peter, himself the first of the Apostles, was allowed to fall 
into sin once, twice, and even three times, that he might 
learn from his own experience to mitigate his severity in 
regard to others, to show compassion and exercise mercy 
and charity. 

But this happened, not simply that Peter might learn a 
lesson. The lesson is for ourselves as well. We must learn 
from the example of Peter. We all are children of Adam, 
weak and frail, fashioned out of the same clay; and when 
we chance to hear that such a one has fallen into some 



248 



JESUS DENIED BY ST. PETER 



grievous sin, we must reflect that the same, ere long, may 
be our case. We all have within us that other servant, our 
flesh; and without us, the devils who tempt us to deny 
Christ by sin. Therefore we should compassionate one 
another and mortify those fits of zeal, lest we should meet 
with falls more ruinous than his. 

I am greatly bound to thank Thee, my God! for that 
school of humility which Thou hast opened to me in the fall 
of Thy Apostle Peter. I have likewise to thank Thee for 
another similar school which Thou hast opened to me in 
myself. For how often has it happened that I have fallen 
in a moment into those identical defects which I have not 
regarded in others with compassion? Yet how obtuse are 
my will and understanding, that I should never learn either 
like a wise man, at the expense of others; nor like a fool, 
at my own. 

I acknowledge that I am a man like other men, subject to 
miseries through frailty and malice no less than others ; and 
yet, full of arrogant zeal, I esteem myself superior to others 
as if I were not, like them, capable of every kind of in- 
iquity, and whilst I exact from all charity toward myself, 
I have not one particle of charity for others. Ah, my God ! 
infuse into my heart a holy humility and charity toward my 
neighbor. Thou seest my need. Without these two essen- 
tial virtues how can I attain to salvation ? The foundation 
of charity is humility, and why shall I not learn from so 
many falls, unhappily experienced in myself, to be humble ? 

I shall purpose never to be scandalized at any one, how- 
ever abandoned and dissolute he may be. I shall com- 
passionate and excuse him, and exercise that charity which 
I wish to be exercised toward myself in similar circum- 
stances, that I know may actually occur. 



MERCY OF JESUS TOWARD ST. PETER 



249 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

MERCY OF JESUS CHRIST TOWARD ST. PETER. 

I. Whilst Peter denies Jesus Christ for the third time 
the cock crows, and he perceives to be fulfilled, not what 
the presumptuous disciple had said — that he would rather 
die than deny his Master, — but what the divine Master had 
predicted, that His unhappy disciple would three times 
deny Him. However, he does not continue in his sin; he 
immediately repents. And why does he repent? Not be- 
cause he has three times repeated his denial, nor because 
the cock has crowed, but because Jesus has graciously re- 
garded him with an eye of mercy. Behold the cause of 
Peter's repentance. He is converted from his sin, and he 
turns to Jesus, because Jesus first turns to him by His 
grace. 

Peter, who is in mortal sin, an enemy of the divine 
Majesty, liable to the eternal torments of hell, may do all 
he likes by his mere natural strength to escape from his 
unhappy state, but of himself alone he will succeed in doing 
nothing. He must be enlightened and animated and aided 
by God with His grace. This is an incontestable truth in 
every case. As any one can kill himself by his own power 
but can not of himself come to life again, so can he also by 
sin give death to his own soul, but he can not by his own 
power alone raise it again from death. Oh, how great, then, 
was the goodness of J esus toward Peter ! For, though He 
had been offended by him and had no need of him, He takes 
the first step to seek him, to call him, to assist him, and all 
for no other object than to save him. Had Jesus not re- 
garded him with pity what would have become of him ? 

Rather shall I say, my J esus ! reflecting upon myself, 
what would now have been my lot hadst Thou not been 
merciful to me who have fallen not three times, like Peter, 
but times without number into sins of habitual malice? 
Thou knowest that I should forever have remained blind in 
my most miserable state hadst Thou not enlightened me 
and raised me up, and had I died in the act of sinning I 



250 MERCY OF JESUS TOWARD ST. PETER 

should have been forthwith precipitated into hell. And 
why, even now, am I not burning in those flames? I am 
indebted to Thy goodness alone, which has prevented me 
with the grace of repentance and in this way preserved me. 
Therefore, I must acknowledge that Thou hast delivered 
me from death more than a hundred and a thousand times ; 
whilst, had it been Thy pleasure, Thou mightest at any 
moment have most justly condemned me. 

My God ! what need hadst Thou of me to cause Thee to 
shower upon me so many graces ? None. What merit had 
I with Thee? None; for I was an abyss of darkness, a 
child of wrath, a vessel of perdition. This I acknowledge ; 
and with all my heart I adore and thank Thy mercies, 
which are, in my regard, innumerable and boundless. To 
so many graces add, I pray Thee, this also — that I may be 
grateful to Thee and never offend Thee more, and that I 
may, by a proportionately greater favor, compensate for all 
that time during which I ought to have loved Thee above 
all things and yet did not love Thee. 

I shall impress upon my mind this truth, which is the 
foundation of humility, that in things appertaining to my 
eternal salvation I am good-for-nothing at all. In all 
things I stand in need of assistance, and every assistance is 
a supernatural gift of God. 

II. The mercy of Our Saviour is, in every respect, ad- 
mirable. He is kept a prisoner, surrounded by soldiers and 
servants who cease not to torment and maltreat Him, and 
yet He has the conversion of His fallen Apostle at heart. 
He is calumniated by the priests, accused by false wit- 
nesses, beaten and insulted by brutal officers, and He is 
so overwhelmed with all these afflictions that His Heart can 
not escape being weighed down with most bitter anguish; 
at the same time, His trial must be carried on, which was 
of such importance and, as far as He was concerned, re- 
garded His honor and His life. This trial is in the hands 
of judges who are His most cruel enemies. Nevertheless, 
as if insensible to His own interests and to His own suffer- 
ings, and as if the disgrace of the sin into which Peter had 



MERCY OF JESUS TOWARD ST. PETER 251 



fallen was His greatest affliction, He thinks not of pro- 
curing deliverance or relief for Himself, but, with His 
Heart speaking through His eyes, He shows how oppressed 
He is with His anxious care for Peters salvation. 

Contemplate, my soul, the charity of Jesus. When, 
with tears in His eyes, He recalled Lazarus from the grave 
He forced the bystanders to admire His tender love. But 
must not His love for Peter be admired as still more tender 
when, with tears of commiseration, He recalls him from 
the state of sin ? And yet more tender still has it been to- 
ward us when with those same eyes He has, not once only, 
but continually called us, and even yet calls us. 

My God, how many loving regards hast Thou cast upon 
me up to this date, calling me and enlightening me and 
inviting me by Thy holy inspirations ! Every time that I 
have approached the Sacrament of Penance, who gave me 
strength to grieve for my sins and to confess them ? Who 
previously excited me to rise and to amend my life ? Who 
but Thyself, with Thy look of most tender mercy? 
goodness, charity, that Thy exalted Majesty should deign 
to cast a look upon such a worm of corruption! I was 
blind, and, in love with my blindness, I was pleased to 
continue in darkness. Who has enlightened me but Thou, 
who, in Thy mercy, didst come to seek me before I had 
sought Thee; to call me, and to assist me before I had 
called on Thee ; to offer me pardon while yet I had not the 
humility to ask for it ? 

Behold, my soul, thy unworthiness and thy necessity ; 
behold moreover the condescension and benignity of Jesus, 
and acknowledging what thou owest to His love, pay at least 
a portion of thy debt by thanking Him. See how Jesus, in 
His Passion, turns His eyes toward thee because He has 
compassion on thee ; and do thou, on thy part, turn thy eyes 
toward Him and compassionate Him in His sufferings. 

I shall pray Our Lord to give me such a look of His 
mercy as may effectually move me to bewail my sins, and I 
shall excite within myself a prompt correspondence. 

III. We must not omit a reflection respecting the man- 



252 MERCY OF JESUS TOWARD ST. PETER 



ner adopted by Our Saviour to convert St. Peter. He casts 
upon him a look not severe, nor stern, but agreeable and 
mild. And no more is required to move the sinner to open 
the eyes of his soul, to rise up and repent. This look is as 
a voice which penetrates his heart, to reclaim him from the 
enormous sacrilege that he has committed. However, it is 
not a voice which scornfully upbraids him, or which re- 
proaches and jeers him on account of his vain boast of 
rather yielding up his life than his fidelity to his Master. 
It is rather a voice of sweetness and love, not to rebuke, but 
to admonish him; not to confound, but to convert him; a 
voice that kindly instructs and encourages him to rely upon 
the divine goodness, and to return to that first fervor from 
which he had fallen. 

What sayest thou, my soul ! of this gentle manner ob- 
served by Our Saviour in the conversion of His beloved 
Apostle? On former occasions, when correcting Peter for 
lighter faults, He had used some asperity ; but now that he 
is fallen into a most grievous sin, which might be sufficient 
to throw him into despair, He comforts him with sweetness, 
and whilst He makes him sensible of the grievousness of his 
sin He, at the same time, instils into him a consoling hope 
that he will be pardoned, and He moves him to shed tears of 
most tender compunction. Thus does God act. That God 
who with a glance makes the earth tremble strikes terror 
also into sinners; but a terror that leads to penance and 
salvation, and does not merely cause a cowardly sense of 
shame. 

How frequently have I experienced the effects of this 
mercy within myself ! The multitude and enormity of my 
sins at any time would have been to me an occasion of 
yielding to despair. But, good Jesus ! in what an amia- 
ble manner hast Thou proceeded with me ! Thou hast 
enlightened me to know not only my horrible deformity, 
but likewise Thy infinite goodness. Thou hast inspired me 
and still continuest to inspire me with confidence, and Thou 
invitest me to follow Thee by holding out to me the hope of 
obtaining Thy grace and Thy glory. 



MERCY OF JESUS TOWARD ST. PETER 253 

Oh, how adorable is Thy mercy! Oh, how amiable! 
Grant, my Jesus ! that my confidence in it may increase 
ever more and more, that I may have a firm assurance 
that it will never abandon nor refuse me those helps that 
are requisite to work out my salvation. It is thus, my 
God ! I believe, that we must place our trust in Thee, and I 
am assured that Thy succors will never be wanting to those 
who trust in Thee. 

From the example of Christ, who corrects St. Peter in 
so gentle a manner, I also shall learn to speak on all occa- 
sions with sweetness and charity whenever I find myself 
obliged to administer correction to my neighbor. 

IV. Peter enters not into himself until Our Saviour 
illumines him with a gracious beam of heavenly light which 
radiates from His eyes, but no sooner is he illumined with 
this true light than he issues from the darkness of his sin. 
Had Peter departed after his denial, and thereby removed 
himself to a distance from his divine Master, whither would 
he have gone if not from bad to worse?' Well was it for 
him that before his denial he had continued to follow 
Him, notwithstanding his fear of encountering troubles on 
this account; and that after his denial he would not 
abandon Him, but still remained outside the hall of 
Caiphas, since he could not enter within. All this indicated 
a tender love for his Lord. 

And oh, what solicitude has not Jesus Christ, also, on 
this account for Peter ! Whilst He permits him to fall for 
his humiliation, in that fall He abandons him not, but 
quickly goes with the aids of His grace to raise him again. 
This is the conduct that God invariably observes toward 
those that love and faithfully follow Him. He safe- 
guards them with a special providence, and if they chance 
through frailty to yield to the temptations of Satan, He 
extends His hand to them in order to enable them to rise 
immediately. 

Wherefore, on this account also, my God ! it is great- 
ly to our advantage to love Thee. For if he that loves 
Thee happens through human weakness to stumble and fall 



254 REPENTANCE OF ST. PETER AFTER HIS SIN 

into any delinquency, he fails not to be afflicted by Thee, 
and he is reproved with gentleness and received with mercy, 
like a beloved son by a loving father; whilst Thou per- 
mittest professed and habitual sinners to hasten headlong 
from one abyss to another. 

Therefore, for this reason also shall I love Thee, my 
God ! because, through respect for this love, Thou protectest 
the sinner and dost not suffer him to continue in sin, but 
inspirest him with sentiments of repentance, pardonest 
him, and with a superabundant charity worthy of Thee 
communicatest to him a copious supply of Thy grace. 

I grieve for not having loved Thee, and for having been 
so insensible as not to be moved either by Thy infinite 
goodness or by a sense of my own advantage. Oh, grant me 
to love Thee, at least for this motive — that to love Thee is 
expedient for me ; so that I may, from loving Thee through 
love for myself, continue to love Thee solely for Thy own 
sake, who art infinitely worthy and deserving of all my 
love. 

I shall not flatter myself that, if I fall into sin, Jesus 
Christ will show me the same love He showed St. Peter. I 
ought to love God, but at the same time I must fear Him, 
and fear shall render me cautious and resolute. 



CHAPTEE XXXIV. 

REPENTANCE OF ST. PETER AFTER HIS SIN". 

I. The first effect produced in Peter by that all-merci- 
ful glance of Jesus Christ was to be reminded of what He 
had told him — that he should deny Him thrice. When 
Peter heard this denial predicted, he looked on it as so great 
and so grievous a sin that it appeared to him impossible that 
his will should consent to such wickedness. And, indeed, 
we must be assured that, had he kept up the horrible idea of 
what mortal sin is, he would not have committed it. But 
instead of this he thought of nothing, and hence he sinned. 



REPENTANCE OF ST. PETER AFTER HIS SIN 255 

Afterward he began to think, and hence he conceived horror 
and contrition and gave vent to most bitter grief. There- 
fore, the first grace that he received to effect his conversion 
was the light of knowledge, the second was the fervor of 
contrition. 

Peter knows the enormity of the evil he has committed, 
and consequently he humbles himself. He knows also the 
greatness of his Saviour's mercy toward him so earnestly 
alluring him to repentance, and hence the love of God is 
again enkindled in his heart, and from his heart tears of 
repentance flow again to his eyes. Were we to ask Peter of 
what he is thinking as he weeps he would answer, with 
David, that he is thinking of the exceeding evil he has done 
in offending God, the Supreme Good. 

In the first place, it is most necessary for every sinner 
that he should know his evil state, and this is what I ask of 
Thee, my Lord Jesus Christ ! through the merits of Thy 
Passion. I ask one ray of Thy light, by which I may know 
the grievous error I have committed in offending Thy 
Sovereign Majesty. I know myself, and 1 acknowledge and 
accuse myself of being what I assuredly am — a most misera- 
ble sinner; and I know that this confession of my misery 
is, of itself, sufficient to move Thy divine mercy to pardon 
me. But I wish to satisfy Thee to the best of my power by 
a true love and a true sorrow. And how can my heart give 
Thee this satisfaction if my mind be not first penetrated by 
Thy divine light? 

eternal Word ! who didst say in the beginning of the 
world, Be light made! and immediately light was, speak 
again and let the same effect be produced in my soul, in 
order that I may know Thy goodness — to love it, and my 
own wickedness — to detest it. good Jesus! one glance 
alone from Thine eyes is enough to transform me from a 
proud and hardened sinner into a humble and contrite peni- 
tent. I am unworthy to be regarded by Thee, but my un- 
worthiness will give so much the greater lustre to Thy 
goodness. My misery will cause Thy infinite mercy to 
appear in bolder relief. 



256 REPENTANCE OF ST. PETER AFTER HIS StN 



Whenever I desire to excite in myself an act of contri- 
tion, I shall dispose myself thereto by a previous act of 
humility, making an avowal of my blindness, my weakness, 
and my unworthiness. For to be contrite it is indispensa- 
ble, in the first place, to be humble. 

II. No sooner has Jesus Christ cast a look upon Peter 
than he enters into himself and is filled with compunction, 
and that he may not lose the spirit of compunction the first 
thing he does is to quit Caiphas's house, as a dangerous 
place, where he is more likely to sin again than to repent 
sincerely of the sin aJ ready committed. In that house it 
had been an occasion of sin for him to remain in the com- 
pany of those wretches, who, full of hatred against Jesus 
Christ, would, of course, give vent to their envy and spite 
by speaking ill of Him. He had met with an occasion also 
in the woman who misled him, as Eve had misled Adam. 
Therefore, he acts more prudently in leaving the house, for 
by that light which he has received he has learned to know 
his frailty and his dangers, and he considers himself bound 
to fly from them. 

He relies no longer upon himself, nor upon his fervor. 
He says not: If any one asks me again, I shall without 
hesitation own the truth, and confess Jesus Christ; but he 
reflects that, at each of the three several times that he 
denied his Lord, he might easily have withstood the occa- 
sion and yet did not. Consequently, should the same thing 
happen again he might speak and act rightly, and yet per- 
chance he will not because there is no dependence to be 
placed on him. Whence he prudently conceives a whole- 
some fear and provides for his safety by flight, thus giving 
a lesson to all that it is vain to make resolutions against 
sin, to bewail and avoid it, if we do not also avoid the occa- 
sion. But how do I profit by this example? This argu- 
ment ought always to be impressed upon my soul : If a St. 
Peter fell by an occasion of sin, much more probably shall I 
also fall by an occasion to which I am exposed, who am but 
a poor despicable wretch. And yet, my God ! how great 
is my rashness ! I know from experience how great is my 



REPENTANCE OF ST. PETER AFTER HIS SIN 257 

weakness and inconstancy in the occasions of sin, and yet 
I hesitate not to expose myself to them, and even, of my 
own accord, to seek them. 

Jesus, my Saviour! who didst with that look of com- 
passion inspire St. Peter to fly the occasion, inspire me 
with the same resolution by a look of Thine eye of mercy, 
and let that inspiration be forceful and efficacious. I ask 
this especially with regard to persons of the other sex, of 
whom the devil makes use in order to effect the ruin even of 
saints ; give me grace to keep, as far as possible, at a dis- 
tance from them. Moreover, to keep at a distance from all 
those who live and converse as libertines and are possessed 
of a worldly spirit. For it is difficult to touch fire and not 
be burnt; to keep company with the perverse, and not be 
perverted. 

III. Oh, how merciful is the providence of God, that He 
should at times permit His saints to fall that their falls 
may be so many profitable lessons to us ! Peter's denial is 
hurtful to no one, whilst the example of his repentance is 
useful to all. Hast thou seen, my soul, the sin of Peter ? 
Behold also his tears. For this reason the Evangelists have 
shown him to us under the aspect of a sinner, and under 
that of a penitent, so that if we have imitated him in sin- 
ning we may imitate him also in detesting and deploring 
sin. 

The virtue of which we have most need after offending 
God is that of hope in His mercy; for, if we have no hope of 
pardon, we shall not use the means to obtain it, and if we 
do not use the means we shall fall into impenitence, despair, 
and damnation. Hope, therefore, is most necessary, and we 
ought to excite ourselves to this virtue by reflecting upon 
the example of St. Peter. When, a short time before, Our 
Saviour had charged this Apostle to confirm his brethren 
after he himself was converted, he meant particularly that 
he was to confirm them in hope, showing to all by his own 
example that as he received pardon, so also will any one 
else, provided he be converted and repent. How enormous 
soever, then, our sins may be, it matters not. Our Saviour 



258 REPENTANCE OF ST. PETER AFTER HIS SIN 



has shown, in the example of Peter, that pardon is not re- 
fused to the penitent. 

Hast thou understood, my soul? Thinking at times 
upon thy sins, thou allowest thyself to be overcome by feel- 
ings of dejection as if all were over with thee. But thou 
art deceived. Hope and confide with all thy heart in God, 
for knowest thou not that however great thy wickedness it 
can never be compared to the divine goodness ? Yes, my 
God ! I know it, I believe it ; and still I feel faint-hearted. 
Oh, what remedy is there for me? 

To Thee, good Jesus ! do I turn and I beg one kind 
glance from Thee, — for that alone can make me of good 
heart. If Thou lookest on me, I also, aided by Thy light, 
shall open my eyes to look on Thee ; and, looking on Thee, 
how can I fail also to trust in Thee? loving Saviour, 
to Thee be praise, and glory ; to Thee eternal thanks ! 
Truly, at the consideration of so many sins of every descrip- 
tion that I have committed, and still continually commit, 
I should be liable to yield to despair, but oh, may I never 
do this ! In Thee do I hope and find peace, for through the 
merits of Thy Passion Thou criest mercy for me to Thy 
Eternal Father. 

I am bound to have hope, but, at the same time, I am 
bound to guard against excess in my hope, as would be 
the case if I hoped for the pardon of my sins from the 
divine mercy without doing penance for them, or endeavor- 
ing to amend my life. 

IV. In the repentance of St. Peter one circumstance is 
worthy of note : it was prompt, without procrastination, or 
delay. For when he was called by the voice of Our Saviour 
to the Apostleship, he immediately left all and obe)^ed ; so, 
likewise, the very moment that Jesus Christ now calls him 
by a glance of His eye to conversion he directly corresponds. 
Just as he was completing his sin the third time the Saviour 
calls him, and between the call to penance and the actual 
repentance no space of time intervenes. 

This is as it should be. Because such is the will of God, 
that after sin we should return to Him again with all haste 



REPENTANCE OF ST. PETER AFTER HIS SIN 259 

and without delay, and because it is not allowed to continue 
an instant in mortal sin, there being always the obliga- 
tion of immediately leaving that state; and, finally, be- 
cause the longer one continues in mortal sin the more the 
evil increases and the greater becomes the difficulty of being 
extricated from it. It is an immense mercy on the part of 
God that He should vouchsafe to call the sinner by His 
grace. On the other hand, it is an injurious contempt of 
the divine Goodness to fail in corresponding with this 
mercy, rejecting with perverseness His loving invitations. 
The saying, I shall repent by and by, I shall amend here- 
after, is likewise extremely dangerous to the soul, foras- 
much as a time may come when it will desire the light and 
God will leave it enveloped in darkness. 

The promptitude of St. Peter is deserving of imitation, 
whilst the obstinate blindness of my past life is a thing no 
less to be deplored. My God ! I bewail all that time during 
which I deliberately lived in mortal sin, in rebellion, and 
m a total neglect of Thy inspirations. And how shall I be 
able — I will not say for hours, but for days and for weeks, 
— to endure Thy anger, which hung over me so terribly 
and threatened me with destruction? I thank Thy clem- 
ency, which has not given place to Thy vengeance as I 
deserved. 

But how great, even now, is my obstinacy, to continue in 
those evil habits of pride, impatience, sloth, and so many 
other vices, notwithstanding that Thou, my God, callest 
me and solicitest me over and over again to amend! I 
acknowledge that I merit the reproof which Thy wisdom 
gives to the reprobate: I have spoken to them, and they 
have not heard. I have called to them, and they have not 
answered. 1 Now I will abandon them. Jesus! cast 
upon me one of those penetrating looks that Thou art ac- 
customed to give to the elect, a look that shall be accom- 
panied with such grace as Thou knowest (though I might 
resist it) I shall not actually resist, but shall cooperate with 
by doing in all things Thy holy will. 

(0 Jeremias xxxv, 17. 



260 REPENTANCE OF ST. PETER AFTER HIS SlN 

I must not expect that grace will effect the entire work 
of conversion in me. It behooves me also to cooperate, by- 
applying the faculties of my soul and doing violence to my 
depraved inclinations. 

V. The repentance of St. Peter was, moreover, a sincere 
repentance, such as God will have in order to be acceptable 
to Him. It is not known what words this penitent made 
use of in his repentance ; but we are assured that he shed 
abundant tears, and those speak most powerfully to the ears 
of God. He spoke with his eyes and by his tears he suppli- 
cated God's forgiveness, and he obtained it much more 
promptly than if he had employed his tongue in long pray- 
ers. Happy tears, which had the virtue of Baptism, to 
purify his soul from sin, because pressed out from the heart 
by sorrow springing from most tender love. 

Peter weeps not, nor does he grieve, through any fear of 
being deposed from the dignity of head of the Church and 
arbiter of the keys of heaven. Nor does he weep or grieve 
because he sees himself exposed to that threat of the 
Saviour, that He shall be severe in the Day of Judgment 
to whomsoever shall have denied Him. The motive of his 
sorrow is not the penalty he has incurred, but solely the 
fault he has committed. Having offended his divine 
Master causes him more heartfelt pain than any other tor- 
ment could have done. His sorrow is the sorrow of perfect 
contrition; this we must labor to obtain in order to be 
penitents indeed. 

But behold a subject of immense fear for me. I am 
certain that I have often committed sin, but I am not cer- 
tain that I am now a penitent, for what sorrow have I for 
my sins? They cause me so little anxiety when I reflect 
upon the dangers to which I am exposed, when I think of 
death, of judgment, of hell. But, in conscience, I can not 
say that I sincerely grieve for them because they are so 
many offences against Thee, my God ! My sorrow is not 
sincere, because my love is not. And what will any sort of 
repentance avail if the penitent be destitute of Thy love? 
Oh, if I loved Thee above all things and with my whole 



REPENTANCE OF ST. PETER AFTER HIS SIN 261 

heart, as I am bound to do, what pain would it not cause me 
to behold myself separated from Thee by sin ! 

Vouchsafe, my divine Saviour ! to cast a loving glance 
upon me, and stir up Thy love within me that I may learn 
to bewail my sins with due sorrow. I now declare that I 
repent purely because I have offended Thee, the Supreme 
Good, who art most worthy of all love. Have pity on my 
sinful soul, and by the help of those graces that Thou 
hast merited for me by Thy Passion make me become a 
penitent with that degree of love and sorrow that will please 
Thee. 

I shall accustom myself to bewail my sins with acts 
rather of contrition than attrition, inasmuch as contrition 
is more honorable to God, and more secure for myself. 

VI. St. Peter, as soon as he had quitted the house of 
Caiphas, began bitterly to bewail his sin ; and, retiring like 
another David, full of shame and confusion through re- 
morse of conscience, he ceased not continually to weep until, 
when he was informed of the Eesurrection of Jesus Christ, 
it behooved him to moderate his grief through joy for the 
mystery then accomplished. The Gospel mentions only his 
weeping, but with this we must also understand all that 
accompanies vehement sorrow: namely, beating of the 
breast, prostrations, sighs, sobs, and vexation of heart. And 
in this penitential spirit he persevered during the whole 
course of his life with a contrite and humble heart, ever 
mindful that he had sinned. N 

And here is another circumstance worthy of imitation, 
and that not simply as a counsel of perfection but of abso- 
lute necessity: — that our penance should be perpetual, 
should last throughout our lifetime, without our ever re- 
garding ourselves as secure. But in order to arrive at this 
state it is not requisite that we should clothe ourselves with 
haircloth, but we must, from time to time, recall the mem- 
ory of our sins, to conceive a detestation of them and to 
maintain ourselves in humility. We must make our pen- 
ance for the evil we have done habitual, and we must adopt 
precautions against both present and future dangers ; con- 



262 



JESUS LED TO PILATE THE GOVERNOR 



stantly supplicating the divine assistance, acknowledging 
that all proceeds from God, without ever presuming upon 
any virtue of our own. Can we complain if God changes 
the penalty of eternal fire, which is due to us for our sins, 
into a temporal penalty terminating with this miserable 
life? 

Ah, my God ! it is an effect of Thy mercy that Thou art 
content with so trivial a satisfaction in compensation for 
my grievous sins, for which, if I were punished according 
to my deserts, all the pains of hell would be too little. How 
is it, then, that at the name alone of penance my soul 
allows itself to be troubled, begins to murmur and to be 
uneasy ? I know not, and, what is worse, I do not and will 
not apply my mind to think what it really is to have of- 
fended Thee, my good and great God ! my Lord Jesus 
Christ ! by that most ardent charity wherewith Thou didst 
look on St. Peter, look on me also, and continue to shed 
upon me Thy heavenly lights that I may conceive aright 
the necessity I have of doing penance, in order that I may 
not grow weary nor cease to exercise myself in contrition, 
mortification, prayer, and humility. Eternal Word of 
the Eternal Father ! the grace of penance has been merited 
for me by Thee. Through Thy merits do I hope to obtain 
it and with Thy assistance I shall do penance. 

As I have offended God in three ways — with my heart, 
with my tongue, and by my actions, — so ought I, also, in 
these three ways to do penance. I shall especially use my 
utmost endeavors to perform that penance well which is 
Sacramental. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

JESUS CHRIST LED TO PILATE THE GOVERNOR. 

I. The sentence having been pronounced that Jesus 
Christ is worthy of death, the council resolves to give Him 
over to the secular power and deliver Him to Pilate, a 
Gentile appointed by the Romans governor of Judea. 



JESUS LED TO PILATE THE GOVERNOR 263 

Nothing of all this happened by chance. All takes place as 
the Saviour Himself had already arranged and foretold, in 
a manner to show in the brightest light His most excellent 
charity. He suffers in order to save not only the J ews, who 
had been reared in the worship of the true God, but the 
Gentiles also, who worshipped idols. Hence, He is pleased 
that both the one and the other should bear a part in caus- 
ing His Passion, so that all may share in the fruit of it. 
goodness of the Author of life, who by a sublime providence 
thus orders that His sufferings should be of every descrip- 
tion, and that of every description should be the authors of 
His death ! 

Moreover, here we should reflect how the malignity of the 
Jews is subservient to the counsels of divine wisdom. They 
lead Jesus Christ around through all the tribunals of the 
synagogue and of the world, to mark Him with the greater 
infamy by making known to all that guilt which has been 
imputed to Him. From this it comes to pass that His in- 
nocence is better known, as there is no accusation proved 
true against Him. The more numerous the judges who 
condemn Him the more glorious He becomes, since He is 
convicted by none, and He it is who is in all things victo- 
rious,; as He conquers the world by truth, the devil by 
humility, and the implacable rage of His enemies by His 
meekness and patience. 

Oh, what lessons, how marvelous and true, hast Thou 
taught us, my good Jesus, in every circumstance of Thy 
sacred Passion! Thus it happens in practice, that under 
persecutions the victory is gained not by yielding to pas- 
sions but by exercising virtues. What should it concern me 
that an evil judgment is passed on me by any one whoever 
it may be if my conscience is right with God, who is my 
only Judge ? It is true that my natural feelings are pained 
by the false and rash judgments that are passed on me ; but 
it is also true, as experience proves in an infinitude of cases, 
that this pain is not diminished but rather increased by 
yielding to pride, to anger, and to hatred. 

Post thou desire, my soul, amid the assaults of the 



264 JESUS LED TO PILATE THE GOVERNOR 



devil and of the world, thine own interior peace that thou 
mayest better serve God from the heart? Listen to what 
Jesus teaches by His word and example: Learn of Me, be- 
cause I am meek and humble of heart, and you shall find 
rest to your souls. 1 Grant, my Saviour ! by Thy mercy, 
that this Thy lesson may be faithfully learned by me. 
how precious a lesson it is not only for obtaining life eternal 
but also for enjoying a happy life in this vale of tears ! 

I shall resolve to practise humility for this end also that 
I may conquer my greatest enemy, which is myself. It is 
self-love that disquiets me, I shall never be at ease if I do 
not learn to be humble. 

II. The chief priests take Jesus Christ to Pilate, not 
only that He may be put to death — -they not having crim- 
inal jurisdiction to shed blood, — but principally that He 
may be brought to an infamous death. It seems to them a 
small thing that He should die as a transgressor of the law 
of Moses. They are resolved that He shall die as a rebel 
against the State, a disturber of the public peace, deserving 
universal hatred from all. They might gratify their envy 
by killing Him secretly; but they are maliciously deter- 
mined that He shall be executed by law as a criminal, and 
that in public, as a public malefactor, so as thoroughly to 
asperse the good name He had acquired. 

Behold the extremity to which men are led by a malig- 
nant passion ! These rulers of the J ews had seen the won- 
derful works of Jesus Christ and heard His marvelous dis- 
courses ; — but in vain. Hence, all things that ought to have 
contributed to their good work together against them to evil 
even to the point that the Saviour of the world becomes 
more hateful to them. Learn, my soul, and fear lest the 
divine graces which thou resistest be not converted into a 
punishment against thee, since Our Saviour is sent for the 
ruin of those who do not profit by His mercies for their 
salvation. 

But how great must we suppose the bitterness and afflic- 
tion of Jesus Christ to be on observing, as He does, all this 

(0 St. Matt, xi , 29. 



JESUS LED TO PILATE THE GOVERNOR 265 



thoughtless eagerness and these malignant intentions of 
His enemies? He yields His feelings to endure all the 
terror that is naturally wont to be awakened under circum- 
stances like these. But He preserves His soul in tranquil 
calm, without the slightest agitation, and without the least 
discomposure of the modesty of His bearing He behaves 
as a meek little lamb. 

most holy Jesus ! all these examples that Thou givest 
me are most precious graces for me. One only of these 
graces, drawn from one only of these examples, should be 
more than enough to make me a saint. Nevertheless how 
far am I from sanctity ! How blind amid so many lights ! 
How deaf surrounded by so many calls ! How weak amid 
so many helps ! I tremble, my Saviour ! since this is a 
most evil sign for me — a sign of that malediction with 
which Thou strikest the reprobate. Never permit, I be- 
seech Thee, that Thou shouldst one day have to reproach 
me also that Thou hast labored in vain for me. For mercy's 
sake, give me one of those powerful signal graces which 
Thou seest will make me careful to sanctify myself by the 
imitation of Thy virtues. One of these graces which Thou 
seest will make me put into execution the holy resolutions 
with which Thou deignest to inspire me. 

1 shall devote myself to the acquiring of interior virtues, 
— humility of heart, charity, resignation to the will of God. 
Then, also, I shall obtain the other exterior virtues of 
modesty, and meekness, and patience will become easy 
to me. 

III. J esus Christ had been bound by the officers in the 
garden, and, thus bound," had been led to Annas and 
Caiphas. Now all the rulers of the Jews lend a hand to 
bind Him anew with other ropes, in order that Pilate, ac^ 
cording to the established custom, should understand from 
seeing Him loaded with so many chains and cords that He 
was capitally guilty and undeserving of mercy. See, my 
soul, thy Saviour, how He is fast bound with fetters on His 
hands, His arms, His breast, His neck, and led thus along 
the streets by the Jews as if He were one of the worst of 



266 JESUS LED TO PILATE THE GOVERNOR 

malefactors. It was by night that He was taken from the 
garden to the house of Annas. Now it is day when He is 
led to Pilate. Oh, what a crowd is there collected to look 
at Him ! Scarcely any one feels pity for Him, as He has 
already been defamed throughout the entire city as a tur- 
bulent, seditious, superstitious man. 

Observe, my soul, this Man-God with His hands black 
from being tied behind His back, with His face bruised and 
filthy with spittle, His head bare and swollen with blows. 
Though weak and wearied with the continued insults and 
torments which He had suffered during the past night, see 
how He is still further ill-treated by these merciless 
wretches at every step by strokes with staves, and ropes, and 
by other most shameful outrages. And yet there can be 
seen in Him not the slightest sign of displeasure, sad- 
ness, or anger. What modesty, what gravity, what patience 
shine forth in His looks ! He who does not understand 
the case may fancy that Jesus is dragged by force to the 
tribunal of the governor, but the truth is that He goes of 
His own free will to give Himself into the hands of Pilate, 
as He had, in the same way, given Himself into the hands 
of Caiphas. What charity! What mercy! What conde- 
scension !— and all for me. 

I compassionate Thee in Thy suffering Humanity, and I 
thank Thee, I praise Thee, I glorify Thee, Lover of my 
soul ! for all these fetters with which Thou sufferest Thyself 
to be bound in order to loose me from my fetters, which 
are my sins. But ah, my Jesus! it suffices not that my 
bands should be broken by Thee. I would wish faithfully to 
follow Thee. And how can I come to Thee except by means 
of Thee, who art my end and my way. No one can follow 
Thee, nor be united with Thee, if he does not imitate Thee 
in Thy patience and Thy humility. Give me, then, my 
Jesus! those graces which Thou hast merited for me to 
strengthen me to imitate Thy example. This is a mercy 
which Thou hast pledged Thyself to show me when Thou 
didst give the Jews liberty to treat Thee with every sort of 
cruelty, 



JESUS LED TO PILATE THE GOVERNOR 267 



In the patience and humility of Jesus there is a general 
rule for the solution of many cases of conscience at once. 
I shall apply the rule for my own direction and for that of 
others. Thus hath Jesus done. Therefore . . . 

IV. Never before or since has any one been escorted 
through the city of Jerusalem with so much honor and so 
much ignominy as the Son of God is now conducted from 
the house of the high-priest Caiphas to that of the governor 
Pilate. With Him are all the princes of the synagogue, all 
the priests and Scribes and Pharisees and doctors, who 
form a great multitude. What an honor to be escorted by 
so many distinguished personages ! But, at the same time, 
what ignominy, when we remark the manner in which the 
Son of God is accompanied, nothing being done during that 
half hour's journey but insulting Him with shameful re- 
proaches! Come along, you robber; go on, you sorcerer; 
now we shall see what your wisdom will avail you. These 
and similar expressions are the encomiums He receives, 
and this innocent One, with His eyes cast down, humbles 
Himself as if He were actually guilty. 

And again, what ignominy to know for what reason all 
these rulers have been moved to accompany Him! They 
go all together because they do not trust one another. They 
fear that there may, perchance, be in their number some 
good man who might defend Jesus, and they do not choose 
that any one should say a word in His defence. They go 
all together to give more credit to their unjust accusations 
and to force Pilate by their noisy vociferations to the abso- 
lute necessity of condemning Him. Oh, what exceeding 
malignity of hatred, — the most violent that can be con- 
ceived ! 

But enter, my soul, into the Heart of Jesus in order to 
contemplate His anguish, and if thou hast one spark of love 
for Him have also some sentiment of pity to compassionate 
Him. And what is the meaning of thy being so cruel, so 
hard, that all the dishonor and sorrow of the most-afflicted 
Saviour do not move thee in the least? Whoever loves, 



268 JESUS LED TO PILATE THE GOVERNOR 

must needs pity. It is for this reason that thou hast no 
compassion, because thou hast no love. 

Oh, that it were not so, as indeed it is, my Jesus ! Thy 
love is wanting to me, and this being what more than all 
displeases Thee, I throw myself at Thy feet and protest 
that this same want of love is greatly displeasing to me. 
Ah ! that Thou shouldst suffer so much for me, shouldst 
demand nothing from me except that I should love Thee, — 
and I do not love Thee. I do not love Thee, who in Thy 
Passion hast loved me so much ! I grieve for my obduracy ; 
but still more for my wickedness, which keeps my heart 
hardened. Ah ! if I do not love Thee, accept at least and 
increase the desire I have to love Thee. I hope one day to 
obtain Thy love. I hope in Thee, not in myself, as I am 
poor and wretched and greatly wanting in Thy pure love. 

I shall make acts of love and of compassion, and if I 
know not either how to love or to pity I shall grieve over 
my coldness, and shall detest my sloth and invoke the divine 
mercy. 

V. In the Passion of Jesus Christ we ought to consider, 
on the one hand, His virtues that we may imitate them; 
and on the other, the vices of His enemies that we may 
detest them. There is no vice which the Saviour during 
the three years of His preaching so often reproved in the 
Pharisees as that of hypocrisy. And there is no vice which 
they are now more determined to put in practice. They are 
resolved that Jesus Christ shall be put to death, but in 
such a way that this enormous crime may not be imputed to 
them and that they may appear innocent. For this end 
they take Him to Pilate, in order that it may be said after- 
ward that it was he who condemned Him. They pretend 
to desire nothing from Pilate but justice, and yet they have 
recourse to every expedient to make him pronounce a 
sentence the most unjust. 

Arrived at the governor's palace, they make a scruple of 
entering the hall in which the tribunal is and feel no re- 
morse at seeking the death of an innocent man. They are 
afraid of being defiled, as they have to eat the Paschal 



JESUS LED TO PILATE THE GOVERNOR 269 

Lamb, which was a figure of Christ, and they make no 
scruple of treating cruelly that same Christ Himself! 
hypocrisy ! 

On the other hand, my soul, take a view of thy Saviour. 
Oh, how well does His exterior deportment correspond with 
His interior sanctity. He is the very truth, which can not 
lie, nor pretend, nor feign. True by excellence, true equally 
are all His virtues; as well those that He possesses in His 
soul as those that He exhibits in His looks. This is one of 
the principal dogmas held by every professor of His faith. 

But, in this particular, how stands my heart? Thou, 
my God ! beholdest it. I myself can not in truth say that I 
have one single virtue. Like the Scribes and Pharisees, I 
make a scruple of some trifles of little or no importance; 
while in what above all offends fraternal charity my con- 
science is callous. I act the modest, chaste, patient, humble 
man; but if the world could see how perverse are my in- 
tentions, how I am ruled by vanity, self-love, human re- 
spect, and how corrupt is my heart, who would not con- 
sider me a veritable hypocrite, who pretends to virtue of 
which he has nothing but the appearance ? 

I am grieved, my God! and crave Thy pardon for 
my hypocrisy. Ah! take from me this vice which was 
peculiar to those Jews who were Thy sworn enemies, and 
grant me a spirit like Thine own which may always in all 
things love the truth ; a spirit sincere, ingenuous, upright, 
worthy of the eyes of Thy divine Majesty. Lover of the 
truth! make me detest vanity and lies, through which I 
seek to please the world more than Thee, and aim at that 
which is temporal rather than that which is eternal. 

I shall fly from hypocrisy as from the worst of evils. 
I shall apply to it the proper remedy, — which is, while in 
the presence of man to remember the presence of God. 
God is present with me. God beholds me. 

VI. That day which is our Good Friday was with the 
Jews the Passover, — a day of solemnity. It is precisely on 
that day, when the priests and the people ought to be pre- 
paring themselves with devotion to sacrifice the lamb for 



270 JESUS LED TO PILATE THE GOVERNOR 



the cleansing of their sins, that they all are occupied with 
laying plots for and hastening the death of Jesus Christ, so 
that they can think of nothing else. But all this happens 
by a sovereign disposition of the most high God, For this 
was truly the Passover decreed from eternity, in which 
figures and shadows were to cease and the sacrifice was to 
be consummated of the true Lamb for the Redemption of 
the world. day of eternal woe for the Jews ! day of 
eternal light for us ! 

Meanwhile, my soul, apply thy thoughts to reflect how 
the governor, Pilate, being come out into the porch of his 
palace, Jesus Christ is delivered over to him by the magis- 
trates of the J ews for no other end than that He should be 
put to death upon the cross, — a death of all deaths the most 
ignominious. See how they present Him to Pilate as a con- 
victed malefactor. But, again, observe more correctly that 
as He is the sole disposer of His own life, it is properly 
speaking He who voluntarily presents and offers Himself 
for thy love. 

goodness, charity, mercy of the Saviour ! who is 
come from heaven to earth on purpose to be judged and 
condemned to death in order to deliver me from eternal 
death. I praise Thee, my Jesus ! and I shall not cease to 
praise and to thank Thee all the days of my life in the hope 
of also continuing my praise and thanksgiving through- 
out eternal ages. Ah! as Thou didst give to the Jews 
liberty to present Thee to Pilate, give likewise to me liberty 
to present Thee for myself to the Eternal Father. 

Eternal, Almighty Father! I offer Thee Thy most 
innocent Son, bound and in chains, in the very condition 
in which He was led to Pilate. Can I give Thee anything 
more wortlry, more precious, or more dear? What is the 
grace that Thou wilt deny me if I ask it from Thee for 
the love of Jesus Christ? Even the princes of the world 
grant favors to criminals in prison and under judgment, for 
the love of their sons. Therefore I ask Thee, for the love 
of Jesus, the favor that my sins may be forgiven me; the 
grace always to hate sin and the occasions of sin ; the grace 



IMPENITENCE AND DESPAIR OF JUDAS 2?1 



to serve Thee faithfully in the practice of virtues, and 
particularly in the observance of Thy holy Commandments. 

Frequently I shall make this offering of Jesus Christ to 
the Eternal Father, since it is most efficacious, especially 
in time of prayer, for obtaining every grace of which I have 
need for my eternal salvation. 



CHAPTEK XXXVI. 

IMPENITENCE AND DESPAIR OF JUDAS. 

I. Judas having received the money that was promised 
to him, did not on this account abandon Jesus Christ, but 
hoping that He would yet exonerate him and that he should 
be able to enjoy his gain in peace, he chose to wait and see 
the result. The wretch, observing the ill-treatment inflicted 
on his innocent Master and the patience and meekness with 
which He supported all, began to reflect on his own villainy, 
still more when he saw Him led away to P,ilate. Then he 
looked upon Him as already condemned, at which he fell 
into sadness and went away gnashing his teeth and gnawing 
his hands because of the bitter remorse of his guilty con- 
science. 

Judas did not know the enormity of his sin until after 
he had committed it. Then he experienced an extraordi- 
nary sadness on account of it; the devil, moreover, con- 
curring to give him a conception of the grievousness of his 
crime, and, by increasing his sorrow, driving him to de- 
struction. Thus is the infernal enemy wont to act. In 
order that a man may sin freely and without fear, he at 
first represents the sin under a charming aspect, so as to 
flatter the passions ; then, after the sin has been committed, 
he represents it in its foul deformity, to fill the soul with 
shame and melancholy, to make it lose courage and fall into 
despair. 

What I am saying with regard to Judas I have often 
found verified in myself. At the moment that I have con- 



272 IMPENITENCE AND DESPAIR OF JUDAS 

sented to sin the sin seemed to me delightful, and thus 
allured by pleasure, I sinned. But now what remains of 
that delight? Nothing but disgust and confusion. I 
would wish to repair this evil by penance, but my con- 
science terrifies me. In my dejection I feel my courage fail 
me and see no refuge but to fly to Thee, my God ! 

Oh, if Judas, after having realized his wickedness, had 
raised his eyes to Thee ! I raise mine to Thee, Lord ! and 
with my eyes I elevate likewise my voice to implore of 
Thee a grace that is most necessary for me in my wretched 
state. Grant that from the multitude and heinousness of 
my sins I may gain, not dejection, but humility. Not de- 
jection, which would lead me to despair; but humility, 
which will help me to gain contrition and amendment. By 
this token we know Thy elect, — that even sin works to- 
gether for them to good. This means that, after having 
fallen, they rise again with more humility and circum- 
spection. Give me, also, my God! by Thy grace, this 
resolution that my sins may serve to make me humble and 
circumspect so that I may never more offend Thee. 

If the sadness that I experience for my sins conducts me 
to God, it is a gift of God. If it withdraws me from God, 
it is a diabolical illusion. With this reflection, I shall care- 
fully examine myself. 

II. Terrified by his own conscience and by the remem- 
brance of those dreadful woes denounced by Jesus Christ 
at the Last Supper against him that should betray Him, 
Judas, the sinner, feels bitter remorse for his crime. He 
presents himself to the chief priests and makes a public 
confession of his sin. He restores the thirty pieces of 
money that he had unjustly obtained. He makes restitu- 
tion, also, of honor to his Master whom he had betrayed, 
declaring himself the betrayer of just and innocent blood. 
But his repentance is of no avail, because it is not what it 
ought to be. It is altogether natural, and seems to aggra- 
vate his guilt in place of cancelling it, because it springs 
from a heart destitute of faith and hope. 

Judas accuses himself of his treason, but he accuses him- 



IMPENITENCE AND DESPAIR OF JUDAS 273 



self as if he had merely betrayed a good man, not the Son 
of God. Here we behold his want of faith. Judas recol- 
lects the miracles of Jesus Christ and the benefits that he 
had received from Him, by all this increasing the deformity 
of his sin : but he thinks not of the mercy of Jesus Christ, 
to trust in Him, and to ask His pardon. Behold his want 
of hope. He had, with wicked confidence, too deeply 
abused the mercy of God. Therefore, like another Cain, 
he is now overwhelmed with the heinousness of his crime 
in such a manner that it appears to him that there is no 
further mercy for him. 

I also am frequently assailed by a similar temptation, 
and I must admit that I deserve it for having so long, year 
after year, persisted in the abuse of Thy mercy, my God ! 
But suffer not, I beseech Thee, that I should fall so low as 
to reckon my wickedness greater than Thy clemenc}^, or to 
fear Thy wrath more than I hope in Thy goodness. Let my 
sins be most grievous, innumerable, past reckoning; more 
exalted, more immense, do I still believe Thy mercy to be, 
- — it is infinite. Far be it from me ever to distrust it. Nay, 
I prostrate myself before Thee to implore' it. While I live 
I shall remember my iniquities in order to cause myself 
confusion of face, but this very confusion shall make me 
trust yet more in Thee. Help me, Lord ! to correspond 
with the gift of faith; let me not lose my faith by being 
ungrateful for my faith. 

When I approach the Sacrament of Confession I shall 
take care that my confession be not a confession like that of 
Judas, and my repentance similar to the repentance of 
Judas. What sort of sorrow do I experience for my offences 
against God? 

III. When he considers his atrocious wickedness, Judas 
knows that he has become hateful to earth and to Heaven ; 
hateful to God, to the angels, to men, to the very devils 
themselves. Amazed, and almost distracted, he knows not 
where to turn. He has recourse to the princes of the syna- 
gogue in his anguish and confusion. He testifies to them 
the poignancy of his grief that they may bestow some com- 



274 IMPENITENCE AND DESPAIR OF JUDA8 

fort upon him. But they contemptuously answer: What 
is that to us? Look thou to it. 1 

J udas knew that Jesus Christ was full of love for sinners, 
and desirous of showing mercy to all ; that He had never re- 
jected any one, and that he might with confidence turn to 
Him, as in previous occasions he had seen with what ex- 
treme kindness so many other sinners had been received by 
Him. Moreover, he had but lately beheld Peter, after deny- 
ing and again denying his divine Master, give him an ex- 
ample by his tears of contrition in what manner forgive- 
ness may be obtained for any sin, however great, and from 
this reflection he might have taken courage. 

Judas also knew how much he was beloved by the blessed 
Virgin. He might humble himself to her, and she would 
be his Mediatrix and Advocate. But the wretched man 
paid no attention to all this. He lost confidence and de- 
spaired of obtaining pardon ; and we are forced to say that 
his final ruin proceeded not so much from his villainy in 
betraying Jesus Christ as from the obduracy and cow- 
ardice that caused him to mistrust the mercy of God. Di- 
vine inspirations were not wanting to him; but he pre- 
ferred to follow his own blind passion and the temptation 
of the devil. 

my God ! I fear, I greatly fear, that the devils, especial- 
ly at the hour of my death, shall assail me with this hor- 
rible temptation, representing to me the multitude of my 
heinous sins and making me doubt Thy mercy. Ah, Father 
of mercies! have pity on me and permit not that I ever 
reject hope, because with that I shall exalt Thy praises 
above all. Deliver my soul not only from the infernal 
enemy, but also from the horror and fear that I have of 
this same cruel enemy. Most holy Mary, Kefuge of sin- 
ners, assist and defend me from the malignant foe, and 
pray for me that I may hope in the mercy of God through- 
out the course of my life as well as at the hour of my death. 

1 shall accustom myself in time of health to make fre- 
quent acts of hope, that I may be enabled to practise them 

0) St. Matt, xxvii, 4. 



IMPENITENCE AND DESPAIR OF JUDAS 275 



with more facility in my last illness and at the hour of 
my death. 

IV. The devil, seeing that J udas has repented of his sin 
in the presence of the priests, and fearing lest perhaps he 
should repent in downright earnestness, immediately fills 
his imagination with darkness and terror, in order to give 
him the last shock and thrust him headlong into final im- 
penitence. The miserable man might yet encourage himself 
to hope for pardon by simply remembering that Jesus Christ 
did not refuse him His most august Sacrament in the 
supper room, nor His kiss of peace in the garden. But he 
pays no attention to all this. Casting down, through spite, 
the thirty pieces of money in the temple, he goes out and 
with his own hands hangs himself, thus becoming the wit- 
ness of his own iniquity and at the same time the judge, 
the executioner, as well as the unpardonable culprit. 

The case is terrifying; in it we must adore the just judg- 
ment of God, and conclude that Judas died impenitent and 
in despair because God finally abandoned him. And what 
brought him to this point ? An inordinate, passion — name- 
ly, avarice and love of money. And how did this passion 
become predominant in him? Because he was slothful in 
conquering it. By his own act, he inflicted on himself in- 
teriorly a most fatal and incurable wound, and through his 
own fault became incapable of conversion. This not un- 
frequently happens to so many others, whom God justly 
abandons to that state of reprobation in which they have 
voluntarily placed themselves through their own fault. 

The same may happen to me also when I least expect it, 
since I too have within me certain vicious passions by 
which, from time to time, I suffer myself to be overcome 
because I know not how to do violence to myself in order to 
conquer them. If God abandons me and suffers me to come 
to an evil end I shall never be able to complain of Him, as 
He has in my regard a disposition most loving. The evil 
emanates from myself, because I am habitually slothful 
and am continually becoming more deserving of this final 
punishment. 



276 IMPENITENCE AND DESPAIR OF JUDAS 

Now I am touching the sore point with respect to myself. 
But great God Almighty ! a deep abyss of nothingness, I 
humble myself to Thee and beseech Thee not to abandon 
me. Thou dost speak to my heart to assure me that the 
fault will be mine and not Thine ; and this, in truth, is the 
case. But what am I to do without Thee? Give me in- 
spirations as Thou pleasest, and strengthen me to do all 
that it pleases Thee to inspire me. Let my wickedness be 
conquered in the end by Thy mercy. 

I ought most to fear being abandoned by God when I per- 
ceive that I do not fear it. I shall foresee the danger, and 
fear. I shall fear and maintain myself in humility, and in 
my humility the hope of eternal salvation shall come to me 
in abundance. 

V. AVe should reflect on the case of Judas. In the first 
place, that his happiness was placed in money; hence, 
avarice is fostered by him. In order to procure money he 
steals ; he betrays his own divine Master and hastens to 
apprehend him through the intense longing he has to 
possess it. But the moment he receives it from the high- 
priest Annas, a little before midnight, where is his im- 
agined happiness ? One may say his enjoyment lasts scarce- 
ly for a moment, because he is immediately assailed with a 
profound melancholy. Early in the morning he throws 
away that money on the ground. He kills himself with a 
rope about his neck. The money is thus lost, and at the 
same time his soul is lost by despair, with his body. Behold 
the fruits obtained from clinging to an evil passion. 

Thus it ordinarily happens with regard to all pleasures 
of the flesh and of the world which are procured by com- 
mitting sin. Vain and momentary is the delight of the 
passions and the senses, while sharp and lasting are those 
torments which conscience afterward brings ; frightful and 
eternal these pains which the divine justice has prepared 
for those who sin. Is it worth while, my soul ! to allow 
oneself to be captivated by worldly delights which vanish 
in a moment ? What madness to fall in love with vanity in 
exchange for the love of God, who is sovereign Goodness j 



IMPENITENCE AND DESPAIR OF JUDAS 277 



And yet in this madness I have raved almost all my life. 
I have loved vanity, sensuality, worldly prosperity, and 
bodily comforts. I have loved evil-speaking, revenge, 
malice, iniquity. Where now is the satisfaction that I 
hoped to find in gratifying my vicious attachments ? The 
appearance of the frail, fleeting pleasure is gone, and I 
realize that I have been cheated by an illusion. 

Ah, take from my heart, my God ! all those loves, and 
suffer me no longer to attach myself either to the pleasures 
or the consolations of this world lest I should come, by little 
and little, to the condition of J udas, who, where he thought 
to find his paradise, found hell. sovereign Truth, my 
sweet Saviour ! since Thou dost refuse Thy consolations to 
him that loves the joys of the earth, give me a hatred of 
vanity and make everything appear bitter to me except 
Thee, so that I may find joy in Thee alone, who art true 
sweetness — eternal sweetness. 

To enjoy transitory pleasures here, and eternal pleasures 
hereafter, is impossible. Of necessity, I must forego either 
the one or the other. Which is more expedient for me ? I 
shall consult my faith. 

VI. Let us contrast the fall of Judas with that of St. 
Peter. Both the one and the other were chosen by Jesus 
Christ to the Apostleship. But the one and the other did 
not come to the same end. Peter sins, but he repents and is 
a saint. Judas sins, — he despairs, and he is a reprobate. 
That he is a saint Peter has to thank the mercy of God, 
and to say with St. Paul : By the grace of God, I am what 
I am. 1 Judas can in no degree blame God for his being a 
reprobate; he must ascribe it to his wickedness alone. 
Meanwhile if, after the example of Peter, we would hope to 
be saved, we must, by the example of Judas, fear to be 
damned ; thus regulating our lives between hope and fear. 

Thus placed between hope and fear, we shall live in hu- 
mility; and indeed it is a strong motive for humility for 
any one to be forced to exclaim : J know not what my end 
may be. I know not whether I shall be saved or damned. 

(0 I Cor. xv, 10. 



278 IMPENITENCE AND DESPAIR OF JUDAS 



God alone knows who shall be saved and who shall be 
damned. I know nothing of what is written in His eternal 
decrees. It is, indeed, a powerful motive for humility that 
no one knows what is to be his doom for all eternity. We 
read of many that have been favored with gifts of miracles 
and ecstasies, — they appeared to be fixed stars of holiness 
and, nevertheless, have subsequently fallen and become fuel 
for the eternal fire. Of others, again, we read that after 
having been for years filled with vices and wallowed in the 
mire of iniquity, they have been lifted up by the merciful 
hand of God and exalted to the thrones of the princes in 
heaven. Ah, can it be that in a soul impressed with these 
thoughts there can be room for movements of pride and 
arrogance ? 

But I have not learned to avail myself of the judgments 
of Thy incomprehensible wisdom, my God, to Thy glory ! 
I turn them into occasions of disquietude and become dis- 
turbed with painful anxieties. I know that I do wrong, 
because where there is unquietness and perturbation there 
is not Thy spirit, which is a spirit of consolation and peace. 
But, I beseech Thee, enlighten and assist me in order 
that I may turn them to profit, to humble myself with a 
humility confiding in Thy infinite goodness; since I am 
assured that in this humility there is always glory to Thee. 

From my frailty and weakness I shall no longer infer 
that I am not predestinated. Eather I shall hope to be so, 
because Paradise has been promised to me and merited 
for me by Thee, Thou Saviour of my soul ! Of myself, 
I have every reason to despair of my eternal salvation; 
in Thee, every reason to hope for it with confidence. In 
Thee, therefore, do I hope, and from the multitude of 
graces with which Thou hast thus far prevented me I take 
courage also to hope for that final grace which will bring 
me into Thy glory. 

Judas was damned because he despaired, and he de- 
spaired because he did not reflect on the price of his Re- 
demption. This I shall ponder well in meditations on the 
Passion of Jesus Christ, and my hopes will be strengthened. 



JESU& ACCUSED BY THE JEWS BEFORE PILATE 279 
CHAPTEE XXXVII. 

JESUS CHRIST ACCUSED BY THE JEWS BEFORE PILATE. 

I. Pilate, knowing that the Jews, adhering to their 
ceremonies, would not enter his palace, goes forth upon a 
portico; and seeing, on the one hand, Jesus Christ bound 
with so many ropes and chains, which was a token of ex- 
traordinary guilt; but, on the other, not having any in- 
dictment presented to him to acquaint him with the nature 
of His crime, asks the priests and Scribes what accusation 
they bring against this man. The governor does not 
venture to decide upon his guilt either from the signs that 
he sees or from the clamor that he hears, and in order to 
proceed with uprightness and not to pass judgment with 
his eyes closed, he thinks proper to inquire into the facts 
according to the forms of justice. 

There is a contrast between the Jews and Pilate. Pilate, 
a Gentile, who knows nothing concerning our Faith, seeks 
to examine with diligence the cause of Jesus Christ, be- 
cause, according to the dictates of his natural reason alone, 
he knows that an innocent man ought not to be condemned. 
The Jews, on the contrary, born and educated under the 
religion and law of the true God, trampling on the divine 
commandment not to put a just and innocent man to death, 
insist that Jesus Christ, although most innocent, should be 
slain as if He were a robber. What more is wanting for 
the fulfilment of the prophecy: that among the people of 
the synagogue there should be a greater amount of malice, 
treachery, and impiety, than there is among infidels? 

Moreover, is not the same anomaly to be observed in 
Christendom ? How often is there not more rectitude in an 
illiterate person than in a theologian ? More honesty in a 
secular than in a religious? More virtue in a man im- 
mersed in the business of the world than in one who makes 
profession of spirituality and perfection? I shall look at 
myself. 

I must say of my own soul : How many are there who 
have less light and knowledge than I, and are of far better 



280 JESU8 ACCUSED BY TEE JEWS BEFORE PILATE 



character than I, and who have a conscience more upright, 
more scrupulous in the observance of Thy most holy law, 
my God ! than I have ? How many are there who do not 
know how to read nor how to meditate, who understand but 
little of Thy sacred mysteries, and yet fear Thee, love Thee, 
and faithfully serve Thee better than I ? How many, I re- 
peat, — how many will there be among the very infidels who 
have more love than I for their neighbor, more reverence 
for their elders, more patience under affliction, more justice 
to guard them from doing wrong to any one, whoever it 
may be, in word or deed? I foresee as impending, my 
God ! a severe and tremendous judgment from Thee. Ah ! 
suffer not, I implore Thee, that I should any longer stand 
in opposition, but rather that I may always be obedient, to 
Thy lights. My predominant passions make me resemble 
the Jews in their blindness and obduracy. I pray Thee to 
give me strength to mortify them, to repress and subdue 
them. 

When an occasion occurs for committing some sin against 
J esus Christ, I shall say to my passions what Pilate said to 
the Jews : What accusation bring you against this man f 1 
Let us examine the life of Jesus, if He be worthy of hatred 
or of love. Does He deserve to be offended? 

II. Pilate knows the malice of the Jews, that they are 
eager for the death of Jesus Christ; he knows, moreover, 
that they are committing an offence against himself and 
his authority by coming to him that he may act, not as a 
judge, but as an executor of their wicked purposes. There- 
fore he justly resists, and asks what accusation they bring 
forward. And what accusation do they make ? None. Not 
knowing what to say and seeing themselves put to the blush, 
they arrogantly answer: If he were not a malefactor, we 
would not have delivered him up to thee. 2 

Let us consider the pride of these words. Puffed with 
self-conceit, they expect that Jesus Christ should be judged 
a criminal worthy of death simply because they assert that 
He is so. They endeavor to cover their impiety under the 

(*) St. John xviii, 29. (*) Ibid., 30. 



JESUS ACCUSED BY THE JEWS BEFORE PILATE 281 



mantle of authority, and to appear men of integrity and 
of pure consciences, while with cavils and lies they hold up 
as a malefactor the Benefactor of the whole world. They 
do not perceive that by not having proofs to convict Him as 
an offender they, on the contrary, prove His innocence and 
publish their own malignity. 

If Pilate, in order to satisfy himself of the truth, had in- 
terrogated those possessed by devils whom Jesus had set 
free, the blind He had enlightened, the lepers cleansed, the 
dead raised to life, and the thousands and thousands of 
others miraculously healed, he would have had good 
grounds to decide whether this man was a malefactor. 
Meanwhile the blessed Jesus, hearing Himself accused by 
so many voices as a malefactor, how does He vindicate Him- 
self ? He says nothing, and by His exemplary silence He 
teaches us how we should practise patience amid the trials 
of this world. 

patience, it must needs be that thou, art a virtue to be 
held in high esteem, since thou art so dear and so precious 
to the Incarnate Son of God that He loves rather to show 
Himself to be patient than He does to be deemed innocent ! 
And what value do I put on this virtue? I would wish to 
see it in others, and I care not to possess it myself. I know 
how to give exhortations to any one else to have patience, 
and this same exhortation I know not how to make to my- 
self on the slightest occasion. I reprove and blame impa- 
tience as something that is ill-becoming any one whoever it 
may be, and yet I am the most impatient of all and I know 
not how to correct myself with the same zeal with which I 
correct others. 

great God of patience ! assist me by Thy grace to follow 
Thee in practice. Give me an affection, my most patient 
J esus ! for enduring out of love for Thee that most dis- 
tressing pain that I experience when I see myself put to 
shame by the evil tongues of others. In this consists that 
true blessedness which Thou didst preach in Thy Gospel, — 
but I do not understand that maxim. And yet, in order 



282 JESUS ACCUSED BY TEE JEWS BEFORE PILATE 

to understand it, what more is wanting than to remember 
Thee and to consider attentively Thy example? 

I shall again reflect whether there is in me that Jewish 
pride to expect that when I speak what I say should be at 
once believed. I shall detest this vice, and shall be per- 
suaded that pride is the mother of impatience. 

III. Pilate beholds the effrontery of the Jews, who in 
order to obtain the gratification of their passions insist on 
his becoming the agent of a cruel injustice; and, knowing 
how readily they are induced to stir up seditious tumults, 
he calmly answers them. Since you desire that this man 
should be condemned as a criminal, although there is no 
evidence of guilt about Him, I feel no disposition myself to 
take the cause in hand: Take Him you, and judge Him 
according to your law, 1 if your law is of such a nature that 
it also condemns the innocent. case that truly calls for 
tears ! According to the law of the infidels, Jesus Christ, 
being innocent, can not be condemned ; while the Jews, who 
boast of being observers of the law of God, insist that at any 
cost He should be put to death. 

They profess that they would scruple to use their own 
hands to kill Him as an unlawful thing, but they have no 
remorse in desiring and insisting that He should be killed. 
A sin of the heart with them is counted as nothing, and 
they form to themselves a blameless conscience provided 
only that they keep their hands from the act. Is it not to 
condemn Him to insist with such earnestness that He 
should be condemned ? Where does the law teach that it is 
lawful to desire what it is not lawful to do ? 

But how far am I carried in my execration of the J ews ? 
Am I not in the same condition myself, and that not un- 
frequently? my God! Thou art the witness of my de- 
pravity. Before the world I manifest signs of aversion and 
hatred for a sinful act, but I am also ready to consent to 
sin with the malice of my heart. I can assume the air of a 
zealous and scrupulous person in guarding against a venial 
sin that may meet the public eye, but I have not the horror 

(0 St. John xviii, 31. 



JESUS ACCUSED BY THE JEWS BEFORE PILATE 283 



that I ought to have for a secret mortal sin. Like the Jews 
I care more for my reputation than for my conscience, and 
I have no hesitation to indulge an evil motive of hatred, 
revenge or envy, when the sin can be cloaked under a 
mantle of justice or of zeal. 

I am aware that this is a dreadful state for me to be in, 
since it is impossible that the love of God can be in my 
heart while I abstain from offending God only through 
human respect. I must apply to myself what was said to 
the Jews of purifying their interior, since without this the 
exterior is of no value. And when shall it be, my be- 
loved Saviour ! that this my inward man is to be reformed 
and conformed to the pattern of Thy truth and holiness? 
Have mercy on me, I implore Thee, and furnish me with 
Thy helps, — I mean Thy powerful, efficacious helps, by 
which all hypocrisy may be eradicated from me and that I 
may begin to regulate myself perfectly, both interiorly and 
exteriorly. 

The malice of every sin lies principally in the heart. I 
must zealously guard my heart, as God is offended and the 
soul lost not less by interior than by exterior wickedness. 

IV. The J ews, in stating that it is not lawful to execute 
a capital sentence, simply declare that the desired Messiah 
is come for the salvation of the world. For, as the 
prophecy has declared that full judicial power shall con- 
tinue to exist among the Jews until the Messiah shall have 
come, and as they now confess that this power has come to 
an end with them, whereas it was in vigor before, and has 
been taken from them but a short time ago by the Eoman 
dominion, it is clear that they make the avowal that the 
Messiah is come, and that Jesus Christ is He, is proved by 
His miracles, His doctrines, and the predictions that have 
been verified in Him. Nevertheless, He is seized and 
treated like one of those false prophets, described by Moses, 
who would seduce the people with their superstitions. 
blind and miserable men, unworthy of compassion, since 
they have recourse to the sign that points out the Saviour 



284 JESUS ACCUSED BY THE JEWS BEFORE PILATE 

in order that this same Saviour may be put to death on the 
cross. 

The Evangelist here adds, with good reason, that it had 
already been foretold by Jesus Christ that His Passion 
should be begun by the Jews and followed up by the Gen- 
tiles. So that when it is seen that His prediction is accom- 
plished, it may be known that in this Man presented before 
Pilate as a public malefactor there is the person of the 
Most High God; and that it may be likewise understood 
that it is not the malice of His enemies that evidently keeps 
Him thus degraded and humbled, but that it is Himself 
who wills it thus, with a virtue that appertains to Him 
alone and which is worthy to redeem the world. 

Let the Jews then raise their voices against Thee, as loud 
as they please, my Lord J esus Christ ! and multiply their 
calumnies. I also shall cry aloud in my spirit to the utmost 
of my knowledge and my strength, uniting my voice with 
that of the Seraphim and of Thy elect, and I shall say: 
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, and who is, 
and who is to come. Thou art worthy, Lord our God, to 
receive glory and honor and power: because Thou hast 
created all things; and for Thy will they were and have* 
been created. 1 Ah, my God ! who hast been humbled to teach 
me humility and to cure me of the vanities and follies that 
are so prized in the world, break this charm which keeps me 
so strongly bound to the esteem and love of vain honor. 
Grant that I may place no value in any honor except that 
which springs from virtue and which appertains to Thy 
glory, and make me learn that it is a great dishonor for me 
to be so proud in the school of a Master who is so humble. 

At every stage of the Passion, on which I shall meditate, 
I shall remember to cry aloud to Jesus Christ, Holy, holy, 
holy; confessing Him true God, deserving of all glory in 
His sufferings and ignominies. 

(») Apoc. iv, 8, 11. 



JESUS BEFORE THE TRIBUNAL OF PILATE 285 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

JESUS CHRIST BEFORE THE TRIBUNAL OF PILATE. 

I. Pilate, seeing that the Jews had no specific accusa- 
tion to bring against Jesus Christ of any crime, and at the 
same time being more inclined to absolve than to punish 
the innocent, again enters the hall of audience and calls 
to him Jesus Christ, there to examine His cause with de- 
liberation and seriously, removed from all tumult. He asks 
Him no questions in presence of the Jews, His avowed 
malignant persecutors ; and, as he entertains a high opinion 
of Him, he wishes fully to satisfy himself and learn from 
the mouth of Jesus whether that general accusation that is 
brought against Him of being a malefactor is true or false. 

Now let us contemplate Jesus Christ standing in the 
presence of Pilate, with His hands tied behind Him. 
Pilate sits on his tribunal in the character of judge, and 
let us well reflect to what a point the Creator of heaven 
and earth has humbled Himself, — He the true Son of God 
established by his Eternal Father Judge of the whole world. 

He stands before a profane man, an adorer of idols, to be 
examined and judged as a criminal who has deserved death. 
But a few hours since, His apprehension in the garden took 
place, and He has been already presented to three judges — 
Annas, Caiphas, and Pilate ; and now, the J ews not having 
been able to discover any one point on which really to ac- 
cuse Him, how does His unspotted innocence beam forth on 
every side ? How does His meek humility manifest itself ? 
During the three years of His ministry He has always en- 
deavored to practise humility, and now on the day of His 
Passion He gives a sermon on this same humility by His 
example, which is the most efficacious of all sermons. 

But what fruit, my Jesus! do I gather from this 
preaching of humility which has been so frequently re- 
peated by Thee with Thy voice and by Thy example ? Thou 
lovest and seekest occasions of being humbled; I hate and 
fly from them. Thou findest consolation in every humilia- 
tion of Thine, from the thought alone that Thou humblest 



286 JESUS BEFORE THE TRIBUNAL OF PILATE 



Thyself for me and for my love. How irksome and difficult 
it is for me to humble myself for Thy love ! Ah, my 
Jesus! have mercy on me a poor and proud sinner; have 
mercy on me a miserable creature, who, in the midst of my 
miseries, am so resentful and impatient. Pay no regard to 
my pride, which makes me unworthy, most unworthy of 
Thy mercies, and in mercy grant me grace to imitate Thee 
in Thy holy humility. If I have not courage to love and 
seek humiliations, make me, at least, endure those that come 
in my way with meekness and patience, in remembrance of 
Thy example. I hope to be heard, because I ask for some- 
thing that I know is pleasing to Thee and in which Thou 
delightest to hear me. 

I shall reflect on what occasions I may have to submit to 
the opinion, the ideas and judgment of any one who is in- 
ferior to me, and I shall embrace them willingly, in imita- 
tion of Jesus Christ who submitted Himself to Pilate. 

IT. Pilate supposes, by some private information that he 
has received, that Jesus Christ has been brought to him as 
a rebel who has been endeavoring to make himself king. 
Therefore, as a representative of Caesar, considering him- 
self bound to investigate this point, he asks Him if He is 
indeed the King of the Jews, in order that, if it be true, 
He may declare Himself. What does the blessed Jesus 
answer ? He had remained silent when He was accused by 
the priests, but now He thinks it well to speak, to instruct 
him and to remove from his mind those political suspicions 
and jealousies. To raise Pilate's thoughts to higher things, 
He gives him to understand that His kingdom is not of 
this world — that is, that He is not an earthly King, — for 
this manifest reason, that He has neither armies for His 
defence, nor cities at His command. 

Oh, how full of profound meaning is this answer of the 
Saviour! He would say His kingdom is not earthly, and 
so He has no wish to stand in the way of the dominion en- 
joyed by the kings of this world, — frail kingdoms, which 
require to be supported by force and by arms ; but a heaven- 
ly kingdom, supreme, eternal, immense, immortal, which 



JESUS BEFORE THE TRIBUNAL OF PILATE 287 



has no dependence on any one, and possesses in itself an 
overflowing abundance of all goods. J esus Christ has deep- 
ly at heart the desire to have this truth understood; and 
that, not so much by Pilate as by all, and more especially 
by us. How do I understand it ? 

I thank Thee, my Lord and my God ! for Thy light, by 
which I now know and confess and detest the errors of my 
life. Thy kingdom is not of this world. So stands the 
truth, and so I believe it. But, notwithstanding this, which 
faith teaches me, what illusions have possessed my spirit, 
and what attachments of the heart have I not had for the 
nothingness of this perishable world? A mere nothing, 
properly speaking, is all that which here below has the 
name of grandeur, riches, pleasures, happiness, position, 
advancement, fortune ; and, in pursuit of this nothing, how 
many thoughts, how many affections have I prodigally 
squandered with contempt, moreover, of eternity, as if there 
was not another life? 

Ah, my J esus, my Master ! for what end hast Thou said 
that Thy kingdom is not of this world, if not to teach me 
that in this world there is nothing that is worthy either of 
my esteem or of my love, and that Thy divine Majesty will 
never condescend to dwell in a soul that loves the world, 
to the prejudice of that love which is due to Thee ? Thou, 
then, I beseech Thee, who givest me light to know the truth, 
give me also strength and courage to practise it. Take 
from me the love of this world, and make all my desires 
aspire to the kingdom of Thy grace in this world and to the 
kingdom of Thy glory in the other. Change the objects 
of my ambition, so that my immortal soul may be ambi- 
tious for none but immortal goods. 

When in the Pater noster I shall say these words, Ad- 
veniat regnum tuum, I shall pray God to assist me to live 
now in His grace that afterward I may live eternally in 
His glory. 

III. Before J esus Christ speaks to Pilate of His king- 
dom, He gives him a token of His Divinity and shows him 
that hidden things are known to Him, by telling him in 



288 JESUS BEFORE THE TRIBUNAL OF PILATE 

terms most intelligible that the question proposed to Him, 
whether He is a King, is nothing but an insult suggested 
by the malice of the Jews and that he should reflect well 
what he is about. Therefore the governor, considering on 
the one hand the wisdom, on the other the innocence of 
Jesus Christ, at once humbles himself in a certain way, as 
though to plead his excuse, and answers : What Thou say- 
est is all true. I do not accuse Thee, for I am not a Jew 
and I know nothing of what regards Thee. They who he- 
long to your nation have brought Thee here, because they 
seek Thy death. But tell me: What hast Thou done? If 
Thou dost not accuse Thyself, I have nothing to lay to Thy 
charge. 1 

These circumstances appear trifling; but St. John has 
written them down with good judgment, in order that it 
may be evident to all that the innocence of the Saviour was 
altogether spotless, and that the sentence of death pro- 
nounced against Him by the wicked Jews was most unjust. 
Let us mention the great something that might have been 
named to Pilate, who was desirous to know what Jesus 
Christ had done ; with one word He had made heaven and 
earth, and whatever He pleased in heaven and earth. What 
has He not done for that people, who accuse Him with 
such perfidy, to deliver them from the slavery of Egypt 
with an infinitude of miracles ? What has He not done for 
the salvation of all the world, and what is He not doing 
now by His sufferings to redeem it from the power of hell ? 
Nevertheless, He passes for a malefactor; and being one 
solely on account of our sins, which He has pleased to take 
upon Himself, it is for them that He submits to be judged 
with so much ignominy. 

Ah, my Jesus ! Thou art a sinner only in appearance and 
in figure, — for the sins that have been committed by me, 
not by Thee. Therefore, while I behold Thee questioned by 
the judge, What hast Thou done ? Quid fecisti? as if Thou 
wast a criminal, I reflect on myself with trembling; while 
I consider that a time shall come when the same question, 

(') St. John xviii. 



JESUS BEFORE THE TRIBUNAL OF PILATE 289 



Quid fecisti? which is proposed to Thee will be proposed to 
me. To my soul, on the instant that it has left my body, 
it will be said, What hast thou done? And what shall be- 
come of me at this time, when my conscience being obliged 
to answer, it will be impossible to conceal or to excuse my 
countless iniquities? my God! there is no refuge for 
me except in Thy mercy, and I now most humbly implore it 
against that day. I now make in Thy presence the confes- 
sion of all my sins, that I may not then suffer from con- 
fusion on their account. 

To myself I shall represent death as near at hand, and 
judgment likewise. I shall promptly prepare for them 
with acts of contrition, as if I was actually about to die 
and had no time to lose. 

IV. After Jesus Christ had repeated again and again 
that His kingdom is not of this world, giving an evident 
demonstration of the truth of what He says, in order to 
dissipate the apprehensions that usually arise from political 
considerations of affairs of state, Pilate is satisfied. Eecog- 
nizing the fact that Jesus Christ, in His poor abject condi- 
tion, is exceedingly far from the thought of aspiring to an 
earthly kingdom, for the conquest of which extraordinary 
preparations are requisite, he addressed to Him these 
words: Art Thou the king of the Jews? 1 not with the in- 
tention of convicting or of mocking Him, but to show his 
contempt for the calumnious Jews. As though he would 
say: How can it be that this man should be conspiring 
against Caesar, since He is so poor and miserable and for- 
saken by everybody ? 

Pilate being therefore persuaded that there is no danger 
of his being robbed of the kingdom of Judea, Jesus Christ 
answers that it is true that He is a King. He gives him to 
understand that He is not a temporal King, after the fash- 
ion of other kings; nevertheless, that He is a King and a 
real King, having supreme authority, as foretold by the 
Prophets. In order to make him understand, also, that 

( l ) St. John xviii, 33. 



290 JESUS BEFORE THE TRIBUNAL OF PILATE 

being superior to all kings, He would not be seen in so 
miserable a plight if He did not so choose. 

my soul ! let us adore this King of heaven and earth ; 
a pacific King, who is not come to bring war nor excite 
hostility against any one, and who is altogether different 
from other kings. The kings of the earth oppress their 
subjects and treat them as if they were slaves; but this 
King is a magnificent King and Monarch, who exalts those 
who serve Him and makes them all kings. In the world 
subjects give their life for the preservation of the king, but 
this King gives His blood and His life for the salvation of 
His subjects. 

divine King! whose kingdom is established in elect 
souls, and who, being supreme, art most deserving to be 
preferred to all creatures in the world, I humble myself 
before Thee, I adore Thee and confess Thee for what Thou 
art, King and Lord of all kings, my own true and lawful 
King. With sorrow I accuse myself of having refused and 
cast Thee from me with greater malice and treachery than 
the Jews. guilty wretch that I am, for having rejected 
Thee and allowed sin to reign in me! I repent of this 
enormous crime. Ah, come, my God ! come reign in me 
and possess me wholly, body and soul, so that there may be 
nothing left in me but what may be employed in the service 
of Thy august Majesty. 

1 shall pray Jesus Christ to vouchsafe to reign in me by 
His grace, so that I may become worthy to reign with Him 
in His glory. He will reign in me if I am humble, morti- 
fied, and obedient to His will. 

V. In His answer to Pilate, Jesus Christ had already 
said that He is King — but not like the kings of this world 
in their earthly kingdoms. He had again affirmed that He 
is King — meaning that He is so in a supreme sense, King 
by excellence. And in order that no one may imagine that 
He had usurped a kingdom by rapine and conquest, He 
proceeds to explain that He is King by right of birth, being 
born of a Father who is a King, and that He has the attri- 
bute of royalty belonging to His own proper essence. More- 



JESUS BEFORE THE TRIBUNAL OF PILATE 291 

over, adding that He had become Man for the purpose of 
making Himself known for what He really is, to convince 
all the world of the truth, since it was deceived by diabolical 
deceits, and to reign in all those who wish to believe in Him 
as King. 

By these words Jesus Christ makes known the object of 
His coming into the world, which is not to command nor to 
make Himself esteemed by force of arms, by riches and 
pomp, but to teach truth, which principally consists in 
three points of knowledge : that there is one only God, who 
is true God, one in essence, three in person; that Jesus is 
the true Son of God, made Man for our salvation ; and that 
there is a kingdom of eternal bliss, which is gained by doing 
penance and violence to one's own passions. This is the 
truth, which has of necessity to be believed in order to ob- 
tain salvation. But who is there that can believe or live 
according to the doctrines of J esus Christ, if he is not aided 
by the grace of J esus Christ ? the counsels, the myste- 
ries of the Most High God ! 

So without the divine grace we can do nothing for eternal 
life. Yet I must not draw hence thoughts of despair. No ; 
but of humility and confidence. Without grace we can do 
nothing. This is a truth. But it is likewise true that this 
grace has been merited for me by Jesus Christ. Why, 
therefore, should I not have confidence that He will give 
me grace, since He has given me His blood and His life 
itself? 

my God ! who has promised grace to every one who will 
humble himself to ask for it, I humble myself before Thy 
greatness with the most profound respect, and I ask Thee 
for the grace to believe firmly all that which Thou wilt have 
me believe; the grace to hope confidently for all that for 
which Thou wilt have me hope ; the grace to act rightly in 
conformity with all that I believe and hope. Ah, my J esus ! 
I am safe with Thee ; suffer not my malice to be an obstacle 
to the effects of Thy most beneficent goodness. 

In vain do I complain of not receiving certain auxiliary 
graces to make me tend in right earnest to perfection. It 



292 JESUS BEFORE THE TRIBUNAL OF PILATE 



is I myself who place obstacles to grace by my attachment 
to vanity. On these I shall examine myself in order to 
rid myself of them. 

VI. It must needs be that the price and merit of truth 
are very great, since the Son of God declares that for this 
end He makes Himself Man: namely, to announce it and 
make it known to a blind and ignorant world. Wherefore 
even Pilate, captivated by those few words of Jesus Christ, 
is inflamed with a desire to be instructed in the truth that 
he may comprehend it, and he asks what it is, that he may 
learn its nature and prerogatives of which he is ignorant. 
But, oh, how difficult is it for a soul under the dominion of 
vanity to apply itself to the understanding of truth ! Pilate 
has scarcely asked the question, What is truth? but imme- 
diately, without waiting for the answer, he leaves Jesus 
and goes to speak to the Jews. He is a man of the world. 
Hence it is that within and without there are too many 
difficulties for him to love the truth and obey the voice of 
Christ. 

How many persons are there in the world, and even 
among ecclesiastics, who on this point are like Pilate ! In- 
fluenced by certain lights of grace they would wish to learn 
eternal truths for the regulation of their lives, but they can 
not find time to bring about in themselves a solid conver- 
sion; because they are occupied in vanity they are drawn 
aside, first by one thing, then by another. How many con- 
ceive good desires of devoting themselves to the conquering 
of their vices, to the acquiring of virtues, to the salvation of 
their souls, and through pusillanimity they allow the in- 
spiration to pass unheeded and they cling to the temptation. 
Oh, worthless beings, to turn, like Pilate, almost in a 
moment from light to darkness, from truth to error! 

One of these, my God ! am I, and perhaps the worst of 
them all. Thy mercy often comes with inspirations to en- 
lighten me and move me to detach myself from vanities, 
and to apply my mind to the consideration of truth and my 
heart to the love of truth, and I would really wish to follow 
Thy movements. But, oh, how readily does some inclina- 



Jesus accused again by tbe jews 2§3 

tion turn me aside, change me. The good that I appear to 
wish to do I leave undone, and in the good which I some- 
times begin I do not persevere ! The evil does not consist in 
this, that I do not know the truth. I know, my J esus, my 
Master! that Thy commandments are truth. I also know 
that to all Thy truths I should conform my life, and I 
would desire to do what I ought; meanwhile, that truth 
which I have in my mind I do not put into practice. And 
when shall it happen that stability will be given to my in- 
stability? Lord my God! I abandon to Thee my will, 
and I pray Thee to animate and confirm it in the fervent 
resolution of obeying Thee in all things, and of never draw- 
ing back from Thy holy service. 

Every good desire to serve God is precious, but it is of no 
avail if we do not strive effectually to carry it out. There- 
fore, I shall reflect what efficacy I give to my desires and 
resolutions. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

JESUS CHRIST ACCUSED AGAIN BY THE JEWS. 

I. Pilate is aware of the innocence of Jesus Christ 
from the few words that He has spoken, and merely by the 
twilight of his human understanding, detesting the impiety 
and malignity of the Jews, he determines justly, in his own 
mind, that He does not deserve to be condemned. There- 
fore, desiring to liberate Him from this persecution, he 
comes forth from the hall, and leading Jesus Christ with 
him, he goes out on the balcony which overlooks the pub- 
lic square, that there he may plead for Him in presence of 
all. There he says with a loud voice : I find no cause in 
this man. 1 At the same time the Jews, with great noise, 
begin to make new accusations against Him, and not know- 
ing what crime to impute to Him to make Him worthy of 
death, they magnify it into a crime for which there is no 

0) St. Luke xxiii, 4. 



294 



JESUS ACCUSED AGAIN BY THE JEWS 



excuse, — that He is seeking to have Himself proclaimed 
king. 

But on this point He has already been proved innocent 
in the examination that He has undergone, and Pilate 
would not say that he saw no cause to condemn Him if he 
had found Him guilty on this point. We must reflect 
that J esus Christ might, of Himself, vindicate His charac- 
ter in the face of the Jews and prove them to be calumnious, 
with a most convincing proof, by bringing forward five 
thousand men who in the wilderness wished to make Him 
king, to bear witness that He had fled ; — so far was it from 
the truth to say that He was ambitious. Nevertheless He 
is silent; and this is the marvel to be observed in His 
silence: that by the very fact of His being silent, Pilate 
becomes more fully persuaded both of His innocence and 
of the perverseness of the Jews. 

good Jesus! to whom the name of wonderful and 
mighty is given by the Eternal Father. Wonderful and 
mighty Thou hast, in truth, made Thyself known to be by 
Thy words; but not less wonderful, not less mighty art 
Thou in Thy silence, since it is by silence that Thou provest 
the truth, that Thou repellest falsehood and puttest Thy 
innocence in more glorious relief. I console myself with 
the thought that, although Thou art to be condemned, Thou 
art declared by Thy judge himself to be innocent. Ah! 
give me grace to imitate Thee in Thy virtuous silence. 

1 deceive myself when, on certain occasions, I imagine 
that I crush evil accusations and defend my character by 
becoming irritated. Thou dost instruct me to the contrary, 

my Saviour ! by Thy example, and I ought to learn that 
if the evil that is said of me is true I should humble myself 
and try to amend. If it is not true, I must remain tranquil 
and remember that there is no way better suited for prov- 
ing innocence than modesty and patience. I know what 

1 should do, my God! but will I do it? I am alto- 
gether mistrustful of myself, and I have nothing to depend 
upon if not solely on the aid of Thy most holy grace. 

My self-love would wish that those who speak evil of me 



JESUS ACCUSED AGAIN BY THE JEWS 295 

might appear to be murmurers and calumniators. This is 
a most hateful vice, and I must resolve on its amendment. 

II. The accusations made against Jesus Christ in the 
presence of Pilate are threefold : that He has subverted the 
people by His doctrines; that He has forbidden them to 
give tribute to Caesar; and that He said that He is the 
Messiah, the promised King of the Jews. But, oh, how 
evident it is that all these accusations are false ! When did 
He seek to subvert the people, and not rather convert them, 
by preaching humility and penance ? When has any foun- 
dation been given for suspicion by His doctrine, and not 
rather for wonder and admiration ? When did He ever sow 
divisions, and not rather preach peace and charity? 

As to the tribute, when did He forbid it, and not rather 
command its payment by His voice and example? Pilate 
is so fully persuaded that these accusations are mere calum- 
nies that he does not even proceed to an examination con- 
cerning them, and with regard to His ambition of becom- 
ing a king, this also is a lie which has already been acknowl- 
edged to be deserving of no credit. This alone is true, — 
that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, and the Saviour of the 
world. But, oh, to what a point does Jewish impiety reach, 
even surpassing all excess, to set down as an enormous mis- 
deed a benefit the greatest, the most striking of all that the 
wisdom and merciful omnipotence of God has ever con- 
ferred on the whole human race ! 

Meanwhile, my soul! enter into the consideration of 
what Jesus Christ is doing in His interior during the time 
that He sees Himself unjustly persecuted by those princes, 
His sworn enemies. To His Eternal Father He offers the 
dishonor that accrues to Himself from all these falsehoods. 
It suffices to Him that His innocence is known to God, and 
therefore He profoundly humbles Himself and remains 
silent. Moreover, He accepts and loves this abjection as a 
just satisfaction which has to be made to the divine Majesty 
for our pride. 

Oh, what obligations, my Jesus ! have I to bless Thee, to 
praise Thee, and to thank Thee; but, more than all, to 



296 JESUS ACCUSED AGAIN BY TEE JEWS 



imitate Thee! Nevertheless, how negligent have I been 
in my duties ! How strangely removed from the imitation 
of Thy examples ! Thou spontaneously seekest reproaches ; 
and not only seekest, but lovest them. I not only hate and 
fly from all that might in any way dishonor me, but 
on the contrary, with determination, I seek every occasion 
of being praised and honored. I feel, as it were, out of my 
element if I find no one to praise and honor me, and I am 
an excessive lover of vain-glory. Oh, how great is Thy 
humility ! How extreme is my pride ! Let one ray, I be- 
seech Thee, of Thy grace descend, my God ! to enlighten 
me with the knowledge that to Thee are due praises, to 
Thee belong honors; to me are due all the reproaches and 
dishonors of the world. 

Thou deservest all good, because Thou art full of grace, 
of truth and holiness. I deserve all evil, because I am full 
of iniquity. 

With regard to praises, I shall resolve never to seek them. 
If at times I meet with praise, I shall guard against com- 
placency in it, referring all the glory to God. However, 
I shall do nothing without the assistance of this same God, 
which I must implore. 

III. The chief priests and the ancients of the people 
become excited in exaggerating their accusations; but, al- 
though they are most grievous and most offensive, Jesus 
Christ answers not so much as one syllable to refute them. 
They are all false, and could easily be set aside; and as 
Pilate knows the falsehood of them, and has a good will to 
set free this innocent, persecuted Man, he persuades, he 
urges Him to defend Himself : Answer est Thou nothing ? 
Behold in how many things they accuse Thee. 1 Jesus Christ 
has just motives to answer for Himself, since the cause in 
question concerning Him is one of paramount importance, 
as it refers to His reputation and His very life. The judge 
is favorable to Him, — nay, it is the judge who presses Him 
to speak, being disposed to acquit Him provided only that 

0) St. Mark xv, 4. 



JESUS ACCUSED AGAIN BY THE JEWS 297 



He plead for Himself. Notwithstanding all this, He re- 
mains silent. 

But why does He keep silence? Truly His accusers do 
not deserve an answer from Him; they are too malignant 
and perverse. Moreover, Pilate does not deserve one for 
his vain policy by which he wishes to favor justice, but will 
not risk giving the least displeasure to the Jews. Yet we 
must say, that His principal motive for silence is that He 
does not desire to be set free ; in order that the Redemption 
of the world may not be delayed by his liberation. He is 
silent also to teach us, by His example, how we ought to 
practise patience in time of adversity. 

divine Saviour ! what thanks shall I render Thee for 
Thy love? Though all my members were changed into 
tongues, and though I could speak with the tongues even 
of angels, how could I ever praise and thank Thee worthily ? 
Thou canst easily deliver Thyself from death, and Thou 
dost not elect to be delivered in order that Thou mayest 
die for me! pity, charity, worthy of a God and 
proper only to a God ! 

But if I can not correspond as much as I ought to Thy 
love, why should I not at least endeavor to imitate Thy 
example? my soul, thou frequently dost complain, — at 
one time because they judge thee or speak of thee wrong- 
fully ; at another, because they put the worst interpretation 
on thy actions, and set down as wrong what thou hast done 
with a good intention. vain and foolish complaints! 
Look at Jesus Christ. When slandered, He is silent and 
suffers all with patience, and learn when, thou art spoken 
ill of to have patience. And Thou, good Jesus ! who givest 
me so edifying a lesson by Thy example, do Thou also move 
and strengthen me by Thy grace to imitate Thee. 

True patience consists in knowing how to be silent, after 
the example of Jesus Christ, on those occasions when it 
might be lawful and advantageous for me to speak and de- 
fend myself. But it is not enough to know how to keep 
silence from a motive of human prudence only; let it be 
done for love of God. 



298 JESUS ACCUSED AGAIN BY THE JEWS 



IV. The J ews, observing that the governor makes no ac- 
count of their accusations, as they are too frivolous, raise 
their voices as if in a transport of zeal, to obtain by their 
clamors the condemnation of Jesus Christ. But Jesus 
Christ is not thereby disturbed. He maintains the same 
tranquillity in His Heart, the same meekness and gravity 
in His countenance, and lets them speak, without saying 
even one word on His part, so that Pilate himself is filled 
with wonder at what he sees — so singular and so new, 
— the like of which had never been witnessed in the world. 

The Evangelist intimates that the wonder of Pilate was 
extraordinary, on account of the extraordinary circum- 
stances that accompany the case. He knows that Jesus 
Christ is innocent. Moreover, he knows that Jesus Christ 
is a wise and eloquent Man, who would have the greatest 
facility in making an able and most satisfactory defence of 
Himself. Consequently, as he beholds Him in manifest 
danger of death and yet silent and patient, without anxiety 
or fear, he is finally almost beside himself for wonder, as 
he seems to see a miracle of superhuman virtue in that 
prodigious fortitude, the like of which he has never wit- 
nessed. 

Behold, my soul! thy Saviour and Kedeemer, truly 
valiant, fearing not all the powers of hell and of the world 
combined. It is in this way that He has shown His mar- 
velous power to overcome His enemies, — not by force or 
majesty, but by patience and humility. Oh, how greatly 
then is that man mistaken who thinks the virtue of forti- 
tude consists in that sort of valor that repels force by force, 
and one injury by another. 

Under this illusion I also have lived, my God ! and it 
is under its influence that I have contracted the evil habit 
that if any one speaks a sharp word to me I must answer 
him five or six still more sarcastic, and that no sooner do I 
entertain a suspicious thought of some one whom I fancy 
to be my rival, than I have an insatiable desire to tear him 
to pieces and dishonor him in the worst possible way. What 
manner of proceeding is this — how different, my Jesus, 



JESUS SEXT FROM PILATE TO HEROD 299 

from Thine ! In Thy Passion Thou didst always keep me 
before Thy eyes. When the occasion presents itself to me 
to imitate Thee I never have Thee before my eyes. Hence 
proceeds all my evil. Oh, if I, dnst and ashes that I am, 
only remembered what Thou, the King of Glory, hast done 
and suffered for me ! Impress on my mind and heart, I be- 
seech Thee, that patience, that humility, that silence which 
Thou didst exercise toward Thy calumnious enemies, and 
give me grace to imitate Thy holy example, at least in some 
degree; in such a degree, at least, as is necessary for my 
salvation and for me to come, one day, to enjoy Thee in 
Thy glory. 

I shall confound myself by reflecting on my great wicked- 
ness to see and clearly to know, by the example of Jesus 
Christ, what I ought to do and yet do not do. I shall weep 
and pray the divine Majesty to forgive and to assist me. 



CHAPTEK XL. 

JESUS CHEIST SENT FROM PILATE TO HEEOD. 

I. Pilate is inflexible in his resolution not to condemn 
Jesus Christ, because He knows that He is innocent; but 
the Jews are at the same time obstinate in their perfidy, in- 
sisting on the condemnation of the innocent One. There- 
fore, not knowing what to do, they bring forward another 
accusation as their last, — that Jesus Christ is a seducer 
who, by His doctrines, has subverted not a small number of 
people, but a countless multitude all through Galilee and 
throughout Judea. But what avails this accusation? It 
only serves to make the innocence of Jesus Christ appear 
so much the more unspotted, and the perversity of the J ews 
so much the more malignant. 

If there were some crime of which they could accuse the 
Saviour with any truth, it can not be believed that they 
would have the charity to pass it over in silence, or to ex- 
cuse it, They would have already declared it in order to 



300 JE8V8 SENT FROM PILATE TO HEROD 



satisfy their envy and their hatred. But they have nothing 
to say, except that He wearied Himself with journeys and 
efforts to preach the truth and to instruct the ignorant. Is 
not this rather a eulogy that brings out in bold relief His 
distinguished virtue? Pilate himself laughs at this accu- 
sation, and we may easily see the wisdom of Jesus Christ 
in keeping silence ; for what reason is there that He should 
defend Himself, when the fame of the splendid miracles 
that He has wrought in Judea and in Galilee defends Him? 

See, my soul, the predicted malediction which these un- 
happy J ews bring down upon themselves by representing as 
a great evil the great good that has been done by the In- 
carnate Son of God. May it not be that thou art guilty of 
this grievous crime, too ? How often hast thou judged to be 
passion, persecution, injustice, that just zeal with which 
others have reproved thee for thy faults? And how fre- 
quently hast thou sided with the world in reckoning devo- 
tion in thy neighbor to be hypocrisy? Humility to be a 
want of spirit ? Prayer, mortification, piety, to be practices 
of scrupulosity and melancholy ? This is calling good evil, 
like the Jews in their accusations of Jesus Christ; but do 
I know how enormous this same wickedness is in me ? 

As it is proper to the elect to draw good from evil, so 
does it appertain to the reprobate to draw evil from good. 
Surely I am reprobate, no less than the Jews, whose char- 
acter I bear if I do not repent and correct myself of this 
vice. Ah, my J esus ! I grieve for my wickedness, which 
springs from a pestilent seed of envy! God of mercy, I 
beseech Thee, let one spark descend on me of that holy 
charity which is kind and amiable, which judges no evil 
and rejoices in the good of others. 

I shall take comfort in the thought of Jesus Christ, to 
whom calumnies are of use to prove His innocence. More- 
over, I shall resolve to imitate Him in the patience and 
resignation to the will of God with which He bears the 
wrongs and injustices that are offered to Him. 

II. Pilate himself was involved in a perplexing difi> 
culty, feeling himself, on the one side, bound in conscience 



JESUS SENT FROM PILATE TO HEROD 



301 



to acquit r,nd set free Jesus Christ ; on the other side, fear- 
ing that if he releases Him the Jews will rise in seditious 
tumults. Therefore, hearing that Jesus Christ was causing 
confusion in Galilee, this being a province subject to 
Herod's jurisdiction, and that it was in Galilee also that He 
had been brought up, with cunning policy he takes occasion 
to have the judgment of His cause taken off his hands. He 
sends Him to Herod, who, being a Jew, real or pretended, 
happens at this time to be in Jerusalem for the Paschal 
solemnitv, leaving it to him to do what he pleases with 
Him. 

Meanwhile the Jews rejoice at this, for Herod, the son 
of a barbarous father, who had slain all the infants of 
Bethlehem, being himself likewise of a barbarous dis- 
position, as it was he that caused John the Baptist to be 
beheaded, they hope to obtain from him the condemnation 
of J esus Christ. Therefore, though J esus Christ is fatigued 
and weakened by the bonds and torments that He has suf- 
fered from the time of His apprehension to the present 
moment, they drag Him with violence from the hall of 
Pilate and take Him in haste through the streets, which are 
filled with people whom the novelty has drawn together. 

Behold, my soul, and admire the modest Saviour, 
dragged, maltreated, abused, and inhumanly struck. This 
is the fourth journey, beyond measure painful and igno- 
minious, that He has made. He was, in the first place, 
taken from the garden to Annas, then from Annas to 
Caiphas ; after this, from Caiphas to Pilate, and now from 
Pilate to Herod. The outrages that are inflicted on Him 
are continually increasing in proportion as the violence and 
rage of His enemies increase. 

Ah, my soul ! stand still at this point and reflect ; and 
while thou repeatest with astonishment: See what the Son 
of God suffers for me ! repeat also with sentiments of shame 
and confusion: And can it be possible, that after so many 
mockeries and insults that He has borne for me, I do not 
know how to endure with patience a cutting word, or to do 
violence to myself, so as to conquer a single antipathy for 



302 JESUS CHRIST PRESENTED TO HEROD 



Him! Oh, what a shame that I should be ashamed to 
suffer in the service of Jesus, who has not been ashamed to 
suffer so much for me ! 

Ah, my J esus ! make me love to imitate Thee in the 
humiliations that Thou hast borne for me with so much 
love. I know that I shall give Thee pleasure in proportion 
as I imitate Thee better in this point. Therefore, I accept 
willingly for Thy love all the contemptuous treatment and 
dishonor that it shall please Thee to send me for Thy 
glory. This resolution is difficult and hard to my self-love, 
but all shall become easy and sweet to me if Thou wilt pour 
into my soul Thy love, which I humbly implore Thee to do, 
realizing that that patience is not pleasing to Thee which is 
practised for human motives alone. 

I shall ask myself: If it happen that such or such an 
outrage is inflicted on me, how shall I behave ? Shall I be 
patient ? Lord, of myself I can promise nothing ! Grant 
me that confidence that I should have in Thy infinite 
Majesty. 

CHAPTEE XLI. 

JESUS CHRIST PRESENTED TO HEROD. 

I. Herod, being informed that Jesus Christ, willing or 
not, is about to be brought into his presence by the Jewish 
guards and soldiery, takes his place without delay upon his 
royal throne and impatiently waits for His coming. 
Scarcely does he see Him than he experiences the greatest 
possible satisfaction, which he shows exteriorly, and re- 
ceives Him with marks of respectful courtesy, not as a 
malefactor, but as a personage of quality, renowned for His 
wisdom and power to work miracles ; — as indeed, he had for 
a long time desired the opportunity of seeing Him. 

Jesus, Eternal Word, Wisdom Incarnate ! what a grand 
occasion hast Thou now to speak and make known the 
sanctity of Thy life and doctrine! This prince eagerly 
sighs to hear the oracles of Thy lips, If Thou speakest 



JESUS CHRIST PRESENTED TO HEROD 303 



now, Thou mayest be sure that Thou wilt not be despised, 
but applauded. Speak then, and as, at other times, Thou 
hast condescended to preach to the crowds and to receive 
their praises, do not now disdain to make a discourse also 
in the court, where the king and all the great ones of his 
kingdom entertain an affectionate sentiment toward Thee. 

Jesus Christ is silent. It is written of Him that His 
discourses would always be ordered with judgment, and 
now He considers it judicious to be silent. And for what 
cause ? Because, it is true, He sees Herod disposed to hear 
Him and to praise Him, but not to obey and honor Him 
with the faith that is due to the word of God. Therefore, 
He prefers to be despised rather than to be vainly praised. 
silence, more instructive than any lesson ! my soul ! 
do you understand what your Saviour teaches you? This 
lesson is easily understood if you will put it in practice. It 
is that you should, as much as possible, fly from the praises 
of men, and never be of the number of those who speak in 
order to be praised and honored. 

my God ! it is in this regard that I fall into sin, being 
blinded by self-love. I am extremely desirous of praise and 
seek it greedily, as if it were a substantial food for me. 
But, in fact, is not this madness ? What is there in me to 
make praise suitable to me? I have nothing in me of my 
own but evil, and this deserves blame. If there is anything 
good about me, either interior or exterior, it is all Thine 
and the praise of it is due to Thee. Ah, most humble 
Saviour, Lover of abjection more than of honor, banish 
from me this spirit of vanity that governs me, and make me 
know the truth, — that I am a blind fool for making an 
account of human praises ; a proud fool, for arrogating to 
myself those praises that are not due to me; a thief, for 
usurping the praises that are due to Thee alone. 

He who seeks to be praised by men is blamed by God. 
What will all the praises of the world avail me when God 
comes to judge me, and perhaps to condemn me on account 
of them ! 

II. King Herod desires two things of Jesus Christ: 



304 JESUS CHRIST PRESENTED TO HEROD 

one is to see Him work a miracle, such as turning water 
into wine, multiplying bread, or anything else of the 
sort that may excite wonder, gratify curiosity, and captivate 
the senses. His other desire is to hear Him speak, as he 
had heard that there was a wonderful sweetness and force 
in His words. By a variety of questions then does He urge 
Him to say who He is, what doctrine He teaches, by what 
virtue He performs so many miracles ; and thus he entreats 
and- provokes Him to answer by all means the most press- 
ing. But Jesus Christ, far from gratifying him by work- 
ing miracles, does not even condescend to pronounce a 
single word. 

As J esus Christ assumed in the presence of Pilate an air 
of superiority, answering him only so much as He thought 
fit and was pleased to answer, and thus making Himself 
known as a King of a higher order, above all temporal 
kings, so also He maintains the same authoritative tone of 
superiority in the presence of Herod, and makes it plain 
that this king has no power to force Him even once to open 
His lips. He consents to be in subjection so far as regards 
the exercise of His meekness and patience, but not for that 
of His power nor of His wisdom. As God, He refuses to 
reveal His Divinity to one who proudly presumes on him- 
self; as Man, He humbles Himself and seeks to shun 
display. 

Learn a lesson, my soul ! Jesus Christ is come into the 
world to condemn, not to satisfy, human ambition. Oh, 
how essential it is to be humble, if we would enjoy the con- 
solations of God ! How important it is to be humble, if we 
would hear and learn the truths of God! Jesus, as God, 
shows thee in the case of Herod how little care He has of 
the proud. Jesus, as Man, makes thee see in Himself how 
necessary it is to be humble if thou wilt imitate Him. By 
what He could do, and what He could say, He might gain 
for Himself every degree of honor at court, — and right 
well He deserves it. Nevertheless He despises it. I also, 
even supposing I deserve to be truly honored, ought not to 
make more account of the honor of the world than of empty 



JESUS CHRIST PRESENTED TO HEROD 



305 



smoke. But what claim have I to honor ? And yet, without 
any claim to it, I love it so much and long for it and seek 
it with such immoderate insistence. 

my God ! in order to be cured of pride, and to obtain 
humility, I have need of Thy assistance. I have a kind of 
dim light to enable me to see Thy greatness and my own 
nothingness, but I have not sufficient light. Ah, most com- 
passionate Saviour! of whom it is written that Thou wilt 
not quench the smoking flax, 1 but wilt rather kindle it into 
flame that it may give more light, enlighten me to know 
myself well, that from this knowledge I may ascend to the 
knowledge of Thee. Make me know my own misery, in 
order that I may implore Thy mercy. 

1 should desire no honor except that truly glorious honor 
that shall be given by God to the elect on the Day of Judg- 
ment. 

III. Jesus Christ is absolutely silent in the presence of 
Herod, because Herod is utterly unworthy to hear His 
divine word. In the first place, unworthy because of the 
incestuous lust to which he is abandoned and by which he 
has become as a senseless brute, that has neither capacity 
for understanding divine mysteries nor disposition to draw 
profit from them. Unworthy, again, because he is a wicked 
hypocrite, who disguises his wickedness under a cloak of 
piety and makes a semblance of spiritual sentiments, while, 
in fact, he loves nothing but the pleasures of sense. He 
lies to himself by his perverse intentions, and pretends to 
wish to honor Jesus Christ at the ^ery moment that he is 
mocking His sanctity. 

Consequently, the Saviour of the world has just reason 
to keep silence. Alas ! it is an evil sign, indeed, when God 
is silent and ceases to speak to a soul ! The holy Fathers 
feared nothing more than the silence of God. Hence it is 
that David, also, in the Psalms goes on repeating so often to 
the Lord his petition that He would vouchsafe not to be 
silent; for woe to that soul to which God ceases to speak 
by His inspirations ! How can that soul love the truth 

(i) Isaias xlii, 3. 



306 JESUS CHRIST PRESENTED TO HEROD 

without the Master to instruct it in the truth ? How can it 
walk in the straight road to heaven without the Guide to 
direct it ? 

This reflection is terrible. If it be assuredly true that the 
man is not worthy to hear the voice of God who gives him- 
self to impurity or to hypocrisy, then I have reason to watch 
with the utmost attention over myself, to guard myself 
against both the one and the other of these vices. Infinitely 
opposed to God, who is infinite purity, is the most foul sin 
of impurity. Infinitely opposed again to God, who is in- 
finite truth, is the most contemptible sin of hypocrisy. 
And what wonder is it that God speaks neither to him who 
is impure, nor to him who is hypocritical. 

my God, my most loving Saviour ! I pray Thee by Thy 
charity, which is immense, that Thou wilt never be so 
angry with me as that Thy mercy should be silent in my 
regard. I confess that I deserve that Thou shouldst no 
more speak to my heart because my heart is full of im- 
purity, of vanity, and malice. But do Thou, I beseech 
Thee, to whom nothing is impossible, find ways to set me 
free from my evil passions and make me capable of hearing 
Thy loving voice. Act not toward me as Thou didst toward 
Herod, refusing to speak a single word to me. Speak to 
me, inspire me, good Jesus ! withdraw me from evil, excite 
me to good. I ardently desire to hear Thee, because I also 
desire perfectly to obey Thee. 

1 shall conceive an abhorrence of these two vices, of im- 
purity and hypocrisy, pondering their deformity and con- 
sidering them as most hateful to the divine Majesty. 

IV. For our instruction, we must reflect upon two other 
reasons why Jesus Christ says not a word in the presence 
of Herod. The first is, because it was a long time since this 
king had heard of the fame of the doctrines and miracles of 
the Saviour. He had, indeed, conceived some desire of see- 
ing and hearing Him ; but having had several occasions of 
doing so, particularly when Jesus Christ was preaching in 
Galilee, he yet had never seen nor heard Him, because het 
had never cared to do it on account of his excessive attach- 



JESUS CHRIST PRESENTED TO HEROD 307 



raent to the things of time, which made him careless in re- 
gard to those of eternity. And God justly refuses His 
graces to those who, captivated by the vanities of the world, 
slothfully neglect their duties. Good desires become utterly 
unprofitable to those who do not know how to find time to 
put them in execution. 

The second reason why Jesus is silent is because Herod, 
now having a convenient opportunity to enjoy His divine 
presence, and to see and hear Him for the good of his soul, 
thinks not of his own spiritual profit. He thinks only of 
gratifying, in the first place, the curiosity of his senses by 
seeing Him work miracles, and the curiosity of his under- 
standing by hearing His eloquence. Thus it happens that 
God, by a just judgment, refuses the helps of His grace to 
a man who seeks Him not with the piety with which he 
ought to seek Him, but with vain curiosity. Therefore, 
through curiosity no fruit is reaped either from sermons 
or from reading pious books. God speaks not to the heart 
of the curious. 

We must add one more motive for the silence of Jesus, 
and this is the one most worthy of Him. If He were to 
speak or to work some miracle, Herod might probably set 
Him free from the power of the Jews. Therefore, He re- 
mains silent in order that neither might His death be pre- 
vented nor the Eedemption of the world delayed. pro- 
digious charity ! and how can I, my Jesus ! ever correspond 
with it ? How can I thank Thee so worthily as to discharge 
myself of infinite obligations? Thy silence was the ex- 
ercise of rigorous justice in respect to Herod. It was 
prompted by a spirit of loving mercy toward me. Extend 
over me still this same mercy; not, however, by being 
silent, but by speaking. 

Truly I deserve that Thou shouldst speak no more to me, 
because of my sloth, through which I have so frequently 
neglected Thy lights, and by reason moreover of my curios- 
ity, by which, in the study of truth, I have sought rather to 
gratify my intellect than to move my will. But, Lord ! 
look on Thy merits, and not on my demerits. Take from 



308 JESUS MOCKED IN THE COURT OF HEROD 



me all that which may be a hindrance to grace, so that I 
may worthily receive it and worthily correspond with all its 
movements. 

How many graces do I deprive myself of by yielding to 
sloth in things that appertain to God, and by the curiosity 
of the intellect, which I indulge in hearing sermons, in 
prayer, and spiritual reading! Oh, how important it is 
that I should amend! 



CHAPTEB XLII. 

JESUS CHRIST MOCKED IN THE COURT OF HEROD. 

I. The Jews fear that Herod may set Jesus Christ free, 
and so they become more and more pertinacious in repeat- 
ing their accusations with a loud voice; then, seeing that 
their accusations do not gain credit, it is highly probable 
that the chief priests by whom Jesus Christ is accompanied, 
drawing near to this impious king to irritate and embitter 
his mind, call to his remembrance the infants whom his 
father put to death solely on account of this Man, who even 
from His birth was saluted King of the Jews. They re- 
mind him, also, that it was only on account of this Man 
that he had been checked by J ohn the Baptist in his amor- 
ous desires; adding, moreover, all that could exasperate a 
political, proud and cruel mind. All is malignity, disguised 
under the appearance of zeal. Is it possible for the passion 
of envy to be either more blind in its judgment or more 
extravagant in its excess ? 

Meanwhile J esus is silent. Although He foresees that by 
speaking He may gain the reputation of a wise man, and 
that by being silent He shall be treated as an ignorant, 
stupid fellow, He judges it better to have ignorance and 
stupidity imputed to Him for a time than to make a vain 
display of His knowledge. This is a lesson that the world 
can in no way understand, because the world does not know 
either where the treasures of true wisdom exist or by what 



JESUS MOCKED IN THE COURT OF HEROD 309 



means they may be found. For this reason it is that in the 
world the number of fools is infinite, because the number 
can not be computed of those who speak much in order to 
be reckoned wise. By His example, Jesus Christ shows us 
how precious and how glorious is a patient silence; since, 
while persecuted by slanderers and whisperers, He does not 
open His mouth for the purpose of either crushing His 
adversaries or of exalting Himself. 

skilful Master, how admirably is our human ignorance 
instructed by Thee! skilful Physician, with what ex- 
cellent remedies dost Thou treat our human pride! It is 
by silence that Thou hast given us the knowledge of Thy 
innocence, by silence that Thou hast perfected the work 
of Thy wisdom, by silence that Thou hast deserved the title 
of Lamb come to be sacrificed for the Eedemption of the 
world. Ah, good Jesus! cast one look of kindness on my 
misery. 

Thou seest how far I am from imitating Thee, how little 
experienced I am in the art of silence. I know how to be 
silent when silence may be reckoned wisdom. I know not 
how to be silent when silence may be imputed weakness. 
Behold my pride displaying itself on all occasions. And 
who can help me to conquer it but Thou alone, by impart- 
ing to me the humility which Thou hast practised ? He that 
is humble finds no difficulty in keeping silence ; and as this 
humility is wanting to me, this is what I ask and hope of 
Thee with confidence that 1 may be favorably heard. I 
know that Thou delightest in the humble, and at least for 
this I trust that Thou wilt grant me the grace of humility 
which I ask of Thee, that I may be pleasing to Thyself. 

Sometimes I consider it necessary to speak in my justifi- 
cation and defence, but if I can learn to be silent for the 
love of God, God will order that I shall be more fully justi- 
fied by silence than by conversation. 

II. Herod having asked Jesus Christ many questions, 
and hearing no answers returned to him, takes offence at 
being thus disappointed in his expectations. He grows 
angry and begins to make game of Him, and set Him at 



310 JESUS MOCKED IN TEE COURT OF HEROD 



nougnt with scornful signs and words, putting Him down 
for an idiot, a fool, a booby, who is silent because He has 
neither sense nor ability to speak two words as He should. 
Behold to what point of the lowest abjection is reduced the 
infinite wisdom of God, which is worthy of all the admira- 
tion and adoration of the world. See how, before all the 
tribunals of the synagogue and of the world, of Judea and 
Galilee, J esus is treated. Jesus the Son of the Most High, 
the Word of the Eternal Father ! on all sides what shame, 
what ignominy cast on Him, to the point that He is reck- 
oned a fool, to be made a mockery of ! He suffers all, but 
oh. with what patience, meekness, humility ! 

"Whether before Annas and Caiphas, whether before 
Pilate and Herod, it is clearly seen that if He is silent it is 
not because He does not know how to speak in His own 
defence, but precisely because He sees that it is most ex- 
pedient to be silent and He does not choose to speak. 
Meanwhile He exercises His Heart in acts of the most sub- 
lime virtues. Ah, my Jesus, true God! for what reason 
hast Thou chosen to conceal the greatness and the majesty 
of Thy almighty Godhead under so great humility? "What 
need hast Thou to humble Thyself in a manner so unbe- 
coming and so strange? 

Comprehend the truth, my soul ! God has not humbled 
Himself for any need or profit of His own, since in His own 
essence He is supreme and glorious Goodness. He has thus 
humbled Himself for us, there being no other way to offer 
to the Eternal Father an adequate satisfaction for our ex- 
cessive pride than by this humility. prodigy, spec- 
tacle ! Has a God been pleased so deeply to abase Himself 
for me as to be esteemed a madman, as one that has suffered 
in His senses, who does not know how to use His reason? 
Has a God been content to be made light of for me, because 
of my pride? Yes; by my pride I have dishonored God, 
and the divine honor could not receive adequate reparation 
save by these humiliations of a God-Man. 

Therefore, pride, how detestable thou art! And yet 
this is the vice which is the most deeply rooted within me, 



JESUS MOCKED tti THE COURT OF HEROD 31 1 



to which I am the most addicted and for the cure of which 
I take no pains whatever. most humble Saviour ! make 
me partake of the merits of Thy humility by giving me 
fervor and strength to conquer in every way this my pre- 
dominant vice. On this depends my salvation. Let me do 
what I may, so long as I am proud I shall at the same time 
be a reprobate. 

I shall be ashamed at the thought that, God having come 
from heaven upon earth on purpose to practise and to teach 
humility, I who am made of earth will not condescend to 
humble nryself on the earth. miserable worm, and yet 
proud ! 

III. Jesus Christ, who for His silence was an object of 
wonder to Pilate, is now an object of indignation and con- 
tempt to Herod. It is true, that by neither of these ini- 
quitous judges has He been condemned; yet, neither has He 
been absolved; because neither of them has the courage to 
oppose himself to the rage of the wicked, Jews. But let us 
consider the wickedness of man, with an eye to the doings 
of God's providence. It is said of Herod, that for a long 
time he had desired to behold Jesus Christ while He was 
absent from him! Now that he has Him before him, in 
what way does he despise Him ! What malice is this, to 
desire the gifts of God in order to make light of them with 
mockery and scorn! 

Nevertheless, we must remark how Providence orders 
that human wickedness should cooperate with His most 
profound counsels. It is necessary that Jesus Christ should 
be put to death, this being required by the infallible will of 
God; but, as He has to be condemned in such a way as to 
be acknowledged innocent by all, behold how after Pilate 
has declared Him innocent Herod also declares Him inno- 
cent, as he does not judge Him deserving of punishment. 
If the accusation of the Jews were true, that Jesus was a 
seducer of the people, Herod would not treat Him with 
mockery, but with severity, and he would avail himself of 
the occasion of giving vent to his spite by condemning Him. 



312 JESUS MOCKED IN THE COURT OF HEROD 

It is then the truth that He is innocent, and the Jews are 
convicted of falsehood. 

how adorable are Thy mysteries, my God ! I rejoice 
that Thy innocence is known to all the world, for that man 
is too blind and malignant who will not acknowledge it. I 
rejoice, Saint of saints, Thou who art truly holy in all 
Thy works, that in spite of all the envy of men and devils 
Thy sanctity shows itself immaculate, without a blemish. 
But grant me also to deplore my wickedness, which resem- 
bles that of the impious. 

Few are the days on which in my prayers I do not desire 
the grace of Thy lights, and of Thy helps, my God! to 
know and to do all those things that please Thee. But 
when Thou dost offer me, as Thou offerest me at all hours, 
with infinite benignity, this identical grace, how do I, 
after all, correspond with it ? My ingratitude and unfaith- 
fulness can not be hidden from Thy Majesty. Graces from 
Thee are those many inspirations by which I feel myself 
excited, at one time to mortify my passions, at another, my 
tastes ; but those graces I positively abuse, since not only I 
turn them to no account, but act altogether in opposition 
to that which I feel inspired to do. And what must I say 
of myself, desiring grace as I do in order to despise it, as 
in fact I am continually despising it ? Ah, my Jesus ! de- 
stroy my wickedness, fortify my inconstancy, and give me 
that grace of which I have the greatest need, namely, to co- 
operate efficaciously with all Thy graces. 

1 shall have to render an account before the tribunal of 
God of every grace that is given me, and my eternal ruin 
may depend on my contempt of one only. I shall determine 
in this respect to live with exceeding care, fidelity and 
caution. 

IV. After the example of Herod, the whole court rises 
up against Jesus Christ, emulating one another to treat 
Him with the greatest contempt. There is a mixture of 
Galilean and Jewish soldiers, all of whom, looking on Him 
as a fool, make a sport of tossing Him backward and for- 
ward, with jeers and jokes insulting to Him in the extreme. 



JESUS MOCKED IN THE COURT OF HEROD 313 

Thus the two nations — that of the Jews in which He was 
born, and the Galilean in which He was reared,^-unite to 
mock Him most injuriously. For a trial of His perfect 
humility there is no sort of ill-treatment and outrage so 
disgraceful but they inflict it upon Him; and each one 
provoking Him to complain or to manifest resentment, He 
neither complains nor is angry, and His afflicted Humanity 
does nothing in its abjection but expose its necessities and 
recommend itself to the Eternal Father. 

These impious wretches occupy their minds with dis- 
covering how to deride and insult Him, one more bitterly 
than another. But if any one could behold what passes in 
the Heart of Jesus Christ, he would still see how He repeats 
every instant most virtuous acts, especially of charity, 
sometimes toward God, resigning Himself to His will; 
sometimes toward those who ill-treat Him, praying for 
them, and imploring upon them, in return for every con- 
tumely that He suffers, so many heavenly benedictions. 

He is the example of the predestinate, come to teach us 
what we must do for our salvation. As He has already 
preached by word of mouth that whosoever will be saved 
must be meek, must moderate his anger and mortify all 
desires for revenge, rather wishing well to those who use 
him ill, — now He goes on to preach us the same doctrine 
with most efficacious example. He foresees that this meek- 
ness will appear difficult to some; nay, almost impossible. 
Therefore He presents us with a perfect ideal of it in Him- 
self, so that for one who will not be meek there may be no 
excuse. 

Jesus, Guide and Master of the meek, how much I am 
obliged to Thee! I am truly one of those who find no 
little difficulty in being meek. What is the reason of this, 
if not my pride alone ? J esus most meek ! clothe me, I 
pray Thee, with Thy spirit, so that on every occasion when 
I meet with contempt and mockery I may offer up to Thee 
the resentment to which I find myself moved.- In order to 
be meek I must be humble, but I shall be neither humble 
nor meek if I am not supported by Thy helps. One of these 



314 JESUS SENT BACK FROM HEROD TO PILATE 



helps I now ask of Thee. It is one that Thou hast merited 
for me by Thy meekness and by Thy humility. 

To render endurable those vexations that may befall me 
in respect to honor, I shall impress on my mind the ex- 
ample of Jesus Christ. This will, more than anything else, 
sweeten for me whatever causes me pain and bitterness. 



CHAPTER XLIII. 

JESUS CHRIST SENT BACK FROM HEROD TO PILATE. 

I. Herod knows not what to do with Jesus Christ. He 
does not wish on the one hand to condemn Him, because 
He is innocent; nor, on the other, to liberate Him, lest he 
should set the Jews against himself; therefore he deter- 
mines to send Him back to Pilate. He has Him clothed in 
a white outer garment. This is a sort of dress, it is true, 
which was worn by gentle folk and princes ; but in the case 
of Jesus Christ it is used only in derision, to expose Him 
still more to the jeers of all, as a fool who has proved him- 
self destitute of sense by the strange notion he has of be- 
coming a king. 

venerable mysteries of sovereign Wisdom ! The ragged 
old white livery that Herod puts on Him for a sign of 
stupidity God designs to make at the same time a sign of 
innocence. It was necessary that the Saviour, sent to re- 
deem the world from its sins, should be holy and innocent, 
without the stain of the slightest sin. Behold Him here, 
clothed in white, as a glorious token that He is the Lamb 
of God, destined to be the expiation, not of His own sins, 
but of those of others. Herod would not have clothed Him 
thus if he had found Him guilty of any wickedness. There 
is no doubt that all he does is done with the sole intention 
of mocking Him, but there is not the slightest doubt that 
he would not have attempted to mock Him had he discov- 
ered any crimes to be punished with severity. 

my J esus ! how pleased I am that Thy innocence is 



JESUS SENT BACK FROM HEROD TO PILATE 315 

acknowledged; how displeased, at the same time, that this 
same innocence should be so ill-treated. I admire Thy 
invincible patience, but still more Thy incomprehensible 
charity ; for why hast Thou chosen, on account of me, to be 
clothed with a garment so ridiculous and so dishonorable 
to Thy most honored sanctity, if not to cover at the same 
time my most foul deformities ? Oh, power of divine love, 
which has been able to love a creature so wicked, so abomi- 
nable as I! and to love it in order to beautify and clothe 
it with most precious garments of grace, of virtue and of 
salvation! How shall I be able to return Thee thanks? 
Since we can not correspond with love except by love, in- 
struct me, I beseech Thee, what I must do to love Thee 
worthily? Assist my wretched heart so to unite itself to 
Thee by love, that there may be no power in the world or 
the flesh to separate me from Thee. It is impossible that 
while remaining the sinner that I am I should unite myself 
to Thee; but clothe me with that holy love of which it is 
written that it covers a multitude of sins, so that there may 
be nothing in me to prevent that close union which is 
effected with Thee in this world by grace, and shall be still 
more perfectly made in heaven by glory. 

In order that my desire of loving God may not be in- 
effectual, I shall examine what there is in me that is op- 
posed to the love of God and what I am disposed to do for 
ihis love. I shall make on this subject some particular 
resolution. 

II. Jesus Christ was clothed in white in His Trans- 
figuration on Mount Tabor, and this was a garment of 
glory. He is now, also, in His Passion, clothed with white, 
and this is for Him a garment of disgrace. See, my soul, 
thy Lord led back from the house of Herod to that of 
Pilate through the most populous streets of the city. One 
treats Him as a fool, another as a malefactor. Nothing in 
the world is reckoned more vile than He. In all places and 
by all persons of every condition, by young and old, nobles 
and plebeians, He is most grievously outraged, without 
even one being found to take His part and to assist Him. 



316 JESUS SENT BACK FROM SEROD TO PILATE 

All rejoice over Him, beholding Him loaded with re- 
proaches and insults. His calumniators alone are in pain, 
and gnash their teeth at the sight of Him ; because they see 
in that white garment a sign of His innocence, they feel 
their own consciences reproach them with the falseness of 
the accusations. 

Ah, Herod, Herod, who didst wish to see miracles, what 
art thou doing now ? Come and see. Behold a stupendous 
miracle, if thou wilt acknowledge it. A God grievously of- 
fended in His honor by the most vile of His creatures ; and 
yet He is silent, He shows no resentment, and is patient. 

If this is not a miracle worthy of God alone, where shall 
we find one that is? And how many such miracles does 
God work at all times and in all places throughout the 
world ? When we see, on the one hand, that the Lord God 
is offended by so many sins ; and when we see, on the other, 
that this Almighty God, instead of punishing us, has 
patience, — at every moment supports our life, while we, at 
every moment deserve death, are we not constrained in 
astonishment to exclaim, what miracles? Miracles of 
mercy, which by this token alone are proved infinite. 

These miracles cause no wonder because they are inces- 
sant. How long, my God ! shall I remain so blind as not 
to acknowledge them, and so ungrateful as not to be thank- 
ful for them ? I adore Thy mercy, which is, in my regard 
especially, exceeding in all tenderness, and confessing that 
the miracles are innumerable which already at this present 
moment Thou hast wrought for me in preserving to me the 
life both of my body and of my soul, with sentiments of 
profound humiliation, and confounded at so great goodness 
on Thy part, I give Thee my most cordial thanks. And 
since, for no other cause, Thou dost continue to bear with 
me and to make me partake daily more and more of Thy 
mercies, I pray Thee, my Jesus ! by all the merits of Thy 
most sacred Passion, to grant me this grace, that I may not 
abuse Thy mercy. To the multitude of mercies that Thou 
has wrought for me add one more, that Thou wilt wholly 
change my heart, so that from being hard, dry, cold as it is, 



JESUS SENT BACK FROM HEROD TO PILATE 317 

it may become tender, fervent, and inflamed with Thy love. 

Let us make haste, and at length begin in earnest to love 
God. The time is long that I have misspent in offending 
Him, and the time left to me to love Him is less than I 
imagine. 

III. Let us consider Our Lord Jesus Christ looked upon 
by the whole court of Herod as a fool, and as such led 
through the city of Jerusalem, while all those mockeries 
were inflicted on Him which an insolent rabble will usually 
inflict on a real fool, He is the Author of wisdom and the 
Controller of the wise ; who infuses wisdom into the simple, 
and who being from His childhood full of wisdom, has by 
His wisdom rendered Himself admirable to all. Wisdom 
radiates from His countenance, and yet He is treated as a 
fool; nay rather, so does Wisdom itself choose and deter- 
mine, that whosoever sees Him in that dress of a sham 
prince should make game of Him as though He were a fool. 

Oh, if we could only learn, as we should, this mysterious 
lesson ! It is in this way that Jesus has thought fit to save 
us, namely, by being looked upon by the silly world as mad. 
It is likewise in this way that we must work out on our part 
our eternal salvation, since all the wise ones of the world 
are reprobate, and in order to be numbered with the elect 
we must by the world be judged to be fools. Understand 
this clearly. The world reckons as wisdom, pride, revenge, 
fraud, duplicit}^, cunning, injustice, iniquity; and it is this 
very wisdom that is the mark of reprobation. The world 
reckons as folly, simplicity, humility, sincerity, poverty of 
spirit, patience ; and it is by a folly like this, of which J esus 
Christ gave us an example, that the elect are marked out. 

To what class do I now belong? Am I of those whom 
the world reckons wise, or of those whom the world reckons 
fools? my God! how greatly hitherto have I been de- 
ceived, while attaching myself entirely to making my ap- 
pearance among the wise of the world ! Blinded by vanity, 
I have never chosen to understand the truth, — that the 
real fools are they whom the world esteems as wise, and 
the really wise are they whom the world counts as fools. 



318 JESUS SENT BACK FROM HEROD TO PILATE 

But now, my J esus ! I understand this truth by reflecting 
on Thy example. Thus it is. No man is truly wise but 
he who is the imitator of Thy holy virtues, and all those 
are fools who, in the pursuit of vice, have the false, foolish 
wisdom of the world. 

Ah, Thou Wisdom increate, Thou eternal Wisdom ! pour 
forth. Thy spirit into me, through which I may practise 
virtue indeed, — then let all the world laugh at me if they 
please. I am resolved to save myself. Provided I am 
saved, it is nothing to me that the worldly reckon me to be 
a fool. Now the simplicity of the just is laughed at, and 
virtue is not esteemed by proud worldlings, but the time 
shall come when its brightness will shine forth with glory, 
and whoever has followed it shall be eternally blessed. In 
order to be wise, I must acknowledge myself a fool. I am 
really a fool as long as I follow the maxims and opinions of 
the world, which are opposed to the truths of the Gospel. 

IV. The Evangelists conclude the account of the send- 
ing of J esus Christ from Pilate to Herod, and from Herod 
to Pilate, with saying that Herod and Pilate, being enemies, 
were on that occasion reconciled. It is not without mystery 
that He who was come to put all the world in peace should 
unite, in peace, even His wicked judges themselves. This 
is a figure of the people of all nations being gathered, as 
they are to be, into the unity of the Church. He has been 
well pleased to show in this manner how much He loves 
peace and concord among her redeemed children. But let 
us ponder on the fact. 

Did Jesus Christ exhort these two princes to peace ? Did 
He persuade them to be united, and endeavor by manoeu- 
vring to reconcile them? Nothing of the kind. We only 
read that Jesus Christ was sent by Pilate to Herod, and 
sent back by Herod to Pilate, and that without His having 
uttered a word peace was immediately restored between 
them. The simple presence of Jesus Christ in bonds and 
chains prevailed on a misbelieving J ew and a profane Gen- 
tile to lay aside their hatred and become friends. And shall 
it be that Jesus Christ, entering so frequently within us 



JESUS SENT BACK FROM HEROD TO PILATE 319 

with His true and real presence, in the most Holy Com- 
munion, will not be able to influence us so far as to cause 
us to lay aside the rancor and the aversion that we enter- 
tain against our neighbors ? Frightful comparison ! 

This meditation should fill me with confusion; for, in 
truth, what sort of fact is this, that the presence of Jesus 
Christ should be so efficacious to join in friendship two 
politicians who do not believe in Him, and that the same 
Christ, who so often enters within me, not accompanied by 
ruffians, but escorted by the angels of peace, should be un- 
able to keep me united by the bonds of charity with my 
neighbor ? How strange that during the Passion of Christ 
two inveterate enemies are made friends, and although in 
every Communion of mine that same Passion is commemo- 
rated, I, on the contrary, break peace and charity with my 
friends for any trifling vain point of honor. 

my God, how hard and perverse and wicked is this 
heart of mine ! When I receive Thee in Communion, and 
nevertheless live in discord and ill-will with my brethren, 
I do, in fact, change in my own regard Thy most august 
Supper into a table of devils. deadly malice! I am 
sorry for it, and accuse myself of it, and through Thy 
assistance, which I implore, I promise entire amendment. 
most gentle Saviour, Peacemaker between earth and 
heaven ! refuse me not this grace which I humbly crave of 
Thee: that is, the grace to maintain, as far as in me lies, 
fraternal charity with all. This is the virtue most beloved 
and most recommended by Thee, and it is in the acquisition 
of this, more than of all the rest, that I must show my zeal. 

Whenever it happens that I am vexed with any one I 
shall recollect myself and listen within myself, not to my 
turbulent passions, but to Jesus Christ, whose words are 
always words of peace and charity. 



320 JESUS COMPARED BY PILATE TO BARABBAS 

CHAPTER XLIV. 

JESUS CHRIST COMPARED BY PILATE TO BARABBAS. 

I. Pilate beholds Jesus Christ brought back to him, 
and as he had previously admired the wisdom of His pru- 
dent answers, he is now greatly surprised that so wise a 
man should be paraded as a fool. He finds consolation in 
the thought that Herod had not discovered, any more than 
himself, matter for His condemnation. Still he is annoyed 
at having to take in hand once more this cause, from which 
he was most desirous to be freed. Therefore, seeing no way 
of escape and knowing how perfectly innocent Jesus was, 
he calls to him those rulers of the Jews and tells them 
candidly his opinion, — that notwithstanding their accusa- 
tions, he finds no fault in this Man. However, as Herod 
also had formed the same judgment, he will, indeed, in 
order to please them, inflict on Him a severe correction, 
but he is determined to set Him free. 

Who will not exalt the providence of God in the watch- 
ful care that He has over the just? On the side of Jesus 
Christ, to bear witness to His innocence are His two judges, 
— one a governor, the other a king. Against Him as ac- 
cusers are the Jews, who have not one creditable witness to 
prove Him guilty. Jesus is silent, and truth speaks loudly 
for Him, making clear His innocence by testimonies above 
all exception. The Jews cry Him down with calumnies, 
and their lies have not even one voice to give them support. 
Which must we believe — the candor of the judges, or the 
malice of the calumniators? Truth is powerful and con- 
quers, and innocence is splendidly defended. If the guilt 
of high treason, which is imputed to J esus, could be proved 
with any probability, Pilate would not be treating of His 
liberation. While he thus wishes to set Him free, he also 
declares Him innocent. 

most holy Jesus ! here I would make with Thee acts 
both of compassion for the woes Thou suiferest, and of con- 
gratulation with Thee for Thy acknowledged innocence, 
but I ask Thy permission to reflect at this point upon my- 



JESUS COMPARED BY PILATE TO BARABBAS 321 



self. Truth, which has justified Thee before the tribunals 
of the world — what justice will it do me when Thy Ma jest}' 
shall come on a high throne to judge me ? It is truth that 
on the Judgment Day shall separate the elect and the 
reprobate, and shall it then be possible to say of me what 
was said of Thee, that in me there is no crime deserving 
of death! My conscience terrifies me, for of how many 
iniquities am I guilty ! How often have I merited eternal 
death! Thou art silent now, because Thou art innocent; 
but I shall be silent then, filled with confusion, because I 
shall not know what to say in my defence. 

I can expect nothing for my sins but to be condemned. 
Yet I hope, my Jesus ! by Thy merits to be saved, since 
Thy merits are infinitely greater than my demerits. Eter- 
nal Father ! I offer Thee in satisfaction for my sins Thine 
own most loving Son. Look through His Humanity on my 
miserable frailty. It is through Jesus Thy Son that I im- 
plore Thy mercy, and it is on this account that I trust it 
will not be denied me. On this account it is that I hope to 
be saved, because He is my life and my salvation for ever- 
lasting ages of ages. 

No one is saved except by innocence or by penance. 
Therefore, since I am not innocent I shall apply myself to 
become penitent, and shall especially exercise myself in 
sorrowing over my sins. 

II. The Jews can not make up their minds to be tran- 
quil, however earnestly Pilate assures them of the inno- 
cence of Jesus Christ. The pagan governor, who loves 
justice more than the professors of the divine law do, still 
does not give up the defence of innocence. He perceives 
that these impious men, under the dominion of passion, 
are incapable of reason, and he has recourse to an ex- 
pedient that strikes him as convenient. He was accus- 
tomed to confer a favor on the J ews at the solemnity of the 
Passover : it was to liberate one prisoner, whomsoever they 
might choose. Consequently he avails himself of the op- 
portunity, and proposes to them Jesus Christ in order that 
He may be set free, if not on the plea of justice, as an 



322 JESUS COMPARED BY PILATE TO BAP ABB AS 



innocent Man, at least by an act of grace, as one guilty : — 
according to the ancient custom, in memory of the Hebrew 
people's being set free from the slavery of Egypt. Further- 
more, to ensure the success of this plan, what does 
Pilate do ? 

Having in prison a certain man called Barabbas. who 
was infamous and hateful to all on account of his enormi- 
ties, he proposes him. together with Jesus Christ, that one 
or the other might be chosen, being persuaded that they 
will be ashamed to ask for Barabbas. as a favor, and will 
infallibly prefer Jesus. But. though the intentions of the 
judge are excellent, how great meanwhile is the indignity 
put on the Son of God made Alan, to be compared to a 
public malefactor? It would be doing a great injustice 
to put in comparison with Him even the most exalted 
of the angels. For to which of the angelic spirits has 
the Eternal Father said. Thou art Hy beloved Son : in Thee 
I am well pleased? 1 And what are we to think of there 
being placed in competition of merit with Him a miscreant, 
the worst in Jerusalem? Nevertheless He suffers the 
affront with a joyful Heart, and for what end? To con- 
firm us in the virtue of patience, and to detach us. by His 
example, from that immoderate apprehension that we have 
of the ignominies of the world. 

adorable Redeemer! what patience Thou dost display! 
When Herod despised Thee as if Thou wast a fool it was 
nothing but a natural defect that was imputed to Thee, and 
this was compatible with innocence. But that Thou 
shouklst now be exposed to the judgment of a perfidious 
multitude to decide which is the more worthless and the 
more deserving of death. Barabbas or Thyself ! This is 
the most poignant dishonor that can be cast upon Thy most 
pure sanctity, and yet Thou hast patience to suffer it. Ah. 
my Jesus ! and when shall I learn to make great account of 
humiliations, since Thou hast rendered them glorious by 
taking them upon Thyself? Regulate, I beseech Thee, by 
the rule of truth, my previous opinions, which are attached 

(0 St. Luke iii. 22 



JESUS COMPARED BY PILATE TO BARABBAS 323 



to vanity, then it will become easy for me in all circum- 
stances to maintain patience. Impress Thy example upon 
my heart and I shall no longer be ashamed of the dishonor 
of the world, but shall rather glory in it. In certain things 
malice at times will be imputed to me where, by the divine 
mercy, it does not exist, and from this I shall take occa- 
sion to accept humiliations with patience, in imitation of 
Jesus Christ. 

III. Let us imagine to ourselves Pilate on the balcony 
showing Jesus Christ to the Jews, and saying to them: 
You have a custom that I should release one unto you at 
the Pasch; will you, therefore, that I release unto you the 
Icing of the Jews? 1 And then let us ponder the grievous- 
ness of the affront. Who is Jesus? Who is Barabbas? 
Jesus is the only-begotten Son of God, the eternal Word 
of the Father, full of grace and truth, the splendor of the 
glory of God, the figure of His Majesty, possessed of al- 
mighty power. Barabbas is a seditious, murderous robber ; 
an assassin, infamous for his notorious, enormous outrages ; 
and oh ! that a comparison should be instituted between 
them by saying : Which will you have ? Which pleases you 
the more ? As if between light and darkness, between the 
best and the worst, there was little or no difference! In 
this the affliction of the Saviour was most sensible, and it is 
thus that He bitterly complained by the Prophet, To whom 
have you likened Me, and made Me equal, and compared 
Me, and made Me like f 2 

But is not this what we ourselves frequently do ? Every 
time that there is question of committing sin the under- 
standing proposes to the will, on the one side Jesus Christ, 
on the other Barabbas. That is, on the one side the Creator, 
on the other the creature. On the one side the sovereign 
Good, who is God; on the other a most vile pleasure; and 
it says, Which of the two is better and the more expedient 
to be chosen? Most unworthy proposal, to balance that 
which is best ! Why, take all that is beautiful and rich and 
(0 St. Matt, xxvii, 17. ( 2 ) Isaias xlvi, 5. 



324 JESUS COMPARED BY PILATE -TO BARABBAS 

extraordinary on earth and in heaven, what is all this com- 
pared in the most remote degree with God? 

And yet how often in the day does it happen that this is 
done by me? Though anything the very greatest be pre- 
sented to my heart, to claim its love in comparison with 
God, I ought to faint away and reproach myself with the 
utmost abhorrence and immediately exclaim, Who is like 
to God? 1 How much more when there is offered me some 
miserable gratification of sensuality or ambition? Never- 
theless, how often do I stand slothfully balancing which is 
the better, the divine Goodness or a vile vanity? Thus I 
do in practice, by the negligence with which I stop to think 
whether I should accept or reject the temptation. 

my J esus ! I then compare Thee with Barabbas. And 
who will give me tears to weep over these negligences that 
I have hitherto esteemed venial imperfections, not worth 
thinking of ? I grieve over them, my God ! and resolve 
with Thy assistance to cry out at once at the first assault 
of any sinful thought, whatever it may be, Who is like to 
God, magnificent in holiness, worthy of esteem and love 
above all things? 

1 shall behave in such a way as not to be obliged to ac- 
cuse myself in confession of tepidity in driving away temp- 
tations. At most, to be able to say that I have not enter- 
tained that horror for them that I should have done. 

IV. It seems that Pilate may be excused for comparing 
Jesus Christ with Barabbas, as well because, in his way of 
speaking, he makes Him appear innocent, as also because, 
innocent or guilty, he only has in view to set Him free. 
However, it can not be denied that he was in fact grievous- 
ly to blame, for if he knows that Jesus is innocent, why not 
avail himself of his authority to set Him free? Why not 
oppose himself with valor to the fury of the J ews in defence 
of truth and justice? It is true, he does not condemn 
Him ; still, he does not acquit Him, and knowingly he ex- 
poses Him to be condemned, and abandons the duty of his 
own state for the sake of not offending the Jews. He prac- 

(0 Exodus xv, 11. 



JESUS COMPARED BY PILATE TO BAR ABB AS 325 

tically shows that it matters not to him that innocence 
should be condemned provided it appears that this is not 
by his fault, but only on account of the envy and malice 
of others. 

Behold a picture of what happens, I shall not say com- 
monly, in the world, but especially in myself. Oh, how 
cunning is my self-love in hiding vanity under the sem- 
blance of truth ; in covering up the movements of concupis- 
cence with the pretence of conscience and throwing a veil 
of good intentions over evil actions! My heart is deep, 
but God sees all its lurking places, and how I contrive by 
hidden ways to satisfy my passions in those very actions 
in which I seem to be seeking nothing but His glory ! I 
sometimes make my intentions give the lie to my actions; 
sometimes my actions give the lie to my intentions. I am 
ruled by human respect, and not unfrequently, in order 
that I may not displease men I do things displeasing to 
God. What Pilate did once, I do often. I know that the 
divine Goodness is most lovely, and yet I' do not love it and 
have not courage to oppose libertines that I may prevent 
transgressions of His divine law. 

Ah, my God ! is this loving Thee with all my soul, with 
all my heart, and above all things, as my duty requires ? I 
repent of my wicked tepidity and inconstancy in loving 
Thee, in spite of all the lights and all the helps which Thy 
mercy deigns to bestow upon me. Ah, look on my great 
misery with the benignant eye of Thy infinitely greater 
pity, and multiply grace in my soul in order that the virtue 
may be multiplied in me that is needful for me; in order 
that I may love Thee with fulness of heart, with fidelity, 
fervor, and courage, and that I may be prepared to meet 
and to endure a thousand deaths rather than ever offend 
Thee again. Cause me to abominate this duplicity of heart 
which makes me a hypocrite, desirous of serving Thee, but 
with this reserve — that I may not displease the eyes of the 
world. 

He who fears falling out with the world can not long 
continue without offending God. This maxim is true. I 



326 JESUS REJECTED IN FAVOR OF BAR ABB AS 



shall examine in what things I am afraid of displeasing the 
world, that I may fortify myself on those points and ward 
off my danger. 



CHAPTER XLV. 

JESUS CHRIST REJECTED BY THE JEWS, IN" FAVOR OP 
BARABBAS. 

I. No sooner has Pilate signified to the chief priests his 
intention of offering Jesus and Barabbas to the choice of 
the people than they immediately make a party and go up 
and down among that same people, whispsring and per- 
suading them not to ask for Jesus, but for Barabbas. 
However much the governor has said in testimony of the 
innocence of the Saviour no reason can find weight with 
those men, because envy has blinded them. They fear that 
if Jesus Christ lives all the world will run after Him. 
This galls them and makes them wish rather for the life of 
Barabbas. Agitated, then, by this passion, what evil do 
they not say of Jesus Christ to represent Him as worse than 
the notorious robber? After having persecuted Him thus 
far, they might now with honor draw back from their pur- 
pose, to do a favor to Pilate, who desires and presses for 
His liberation ; but, being more than ever hardened in their 
malice, they show themselves openly as inexcusably per- 
fidious. 

Cursed envy, which was also the cause of the devil's in- 
troducing death into the world, of Cain's murdering his 
innocent brother Abel, and of the J ews conspiring to put to 
death the most innocent Lamb of God ! And now to look 
back upon myself, shall I not find this vice holding 
dominion within me ? Alas ! who knows ? A vice this is 
difficult to be cured, because it is difficult to know it. 
But do I not feel, in my interior, some pain or sadness 
when I see one of my own state in life more beloved or 
more esteemed, more praised, more honored, or more fortu- 



JESUS REJECTED IN FAVOR OF BARABBAS 327 



nate than myself? How often do movements of this 
nature afflict and visibly disturb me through an excess of 
that self-love which rules within me! And can I doubt 
that this is real envy, opposed to charity, which ought to 
make me find comfort in the welfare of my neighbor ? But 
what sorrow have I for this vice in my confessions, and 
what means do I make use of for its cure ? 

my God ! who will be able to heal this mortal wound of 
mine, if Thou dost not do it by pouring out on my heart 
that precious balsam of charity which flows forth from the 
source of infinite goodness ? It seems to me, my Jesus ! 
that I have detestation for the envy of the Jews, who hate 
Thee unto death for the sole reason that Thou art more 
esteemed and more beloved by the multitudes than they. 
Why, then, do I not detest also that envy which I entertain 
against some of my neighbors because I covet for myself 
all that esteem and good will that is felt for them? Ah, 
Eedeemer of my soul ! give me intense hatred and horror of 
this vice, which is diabolical and directly opposed to the 
virtue of the Holy Ghost. Give me light to know its 
deformity, and strength to overcome the sway which I feel 
it holds within me. 

It is an effect of envy to criticise, to blame and misinter- 
pret the doings of our neighbors. Therefore, I shall be on 
my guard on this point, and I shall endeavor, as much as 
possible, to judge and speak well of all. 

II. There was a law in the Old Testament, that if an 
innocent man had fallen into the hands of justice others 
should strive to deliver him ; and as the chiefs of the syna- 
gogue were principally charged with this, there is no doubt 
that in the cause of Jesus Christ, when found innocent, 
they should have been the first to stand up in His behalf. 
Nevertheless, behold them all conspire against Him. Who 
is on His side to seek His liberation ? No one but Pilate's 
wife, who being terrified and dejected by some gloomy 
visions, bears witness, in the face of all, that Jesus is a 
just man, and warns her husband, with alarming fore- 
bodings, to beware of consenting to the iniquity of the 



328 JE8U8 REJECTED IN FAVOR OF BARABBAS 



Jews by condemning Him. Oh, what a spectacle! The 
chosen nations are all enraged against Jesus, and on the 
side of Jesus are none but Pilate and his wife, — Gentiles. 

But let us not be carried away by useless amazement. Is 
not this what is continually practised in the world? Oh, 
how few are they who take part with Jesus Christ by up- 
holding justice and promoting what appertains to His 
glory ! Oh, how numerous are the rivals set up against 
J esus Christ, who persist in persecuting and offending Him 
and have not one sentiment of respect for Him ! Hence it 
is that few are saved, many damned. Hence likewise that 
in order to be saved, we must live as live the few. 

But what does this mean, to live as the few live? Few 
are the humble with that humility which is of the heart, — 
genuine. Few are they who love God above all things, and 
their neighbor as themselves. Few who bear adversity with 
patience. Few who do not allow themselves to be fasci- 
nated with vanity, and who do not follow the false maxims 
of the world. Now, do I live as these few live? Do I 
possess indeed the humility, the charity, the patience, and 
the poverty of spirit which is the definition of veritable 
detachment from the world? 

If I seriously reflect on my own state, I am a self -flat- 
terer, and fancy myself possessed of some virtue; but, in 
truth, I find myself to be wretched and miserable and poor 
and blind and naked, entirely destitute of virtue, with 
scarcely a shadow or reflex of it. My habits are worldly. 
I live as the many do. I fly abjection, mortification, 
prayer; and as I can not bring myself to live as the few 
live, I flatter myself, notwithstanding, with the hope of 
arriving at that eternal bliss to which no one attains except 
by the narrow path that is trodden by the few. Ah, my 
God ! divest me of this illusion and cause me to walk in the 
ways of Thy elect ; for, although these ways may be labori- 
ous, strengthened by Thee I shall follow them in order to 
be saved. 

To obtain salvation we must follow the Saviour. Few do 
this ; few tread in the footsteps of Jesus Christ by imitating 



JESUS REJECTED IN FAVOR OF BARABBAS 329 



Him. This is what I also ought to do, this is what I am 
determined to do. I ask Our Lord to give me His as- 
sistance. 

III. Though Pilate beholds the mischief done by the 
priests and the Scribes who were suborned by the people, 
nevertheless he thinks that the populace will be favorable 
to Jesus Christ, remembering the benefits that they have 
received from Him. In order, then, that they may avail 
themselves of the occasion to set Him free, he proposes 
Him to them with Barabbas, saying: Will you that I re- 
lease to you the king of the Jews f 1 He calls Him by this 
name, as if in joke, to make them understand that the ac- 
cusation brought against Him is false, and that he would 
not allow a thought to be entertained of His liberation if 
He had indeed attempted to make Himself a king. But 
what is the answer given to the governor, who shows it 
would please him if they should choose Jesus? They all 
cry out with one voice, Away with this man, and release 
unto us Barabbas. 2 They all are so infuriated against Him 
that their words seem, as the Prophets had foretold, rather 
like the howlings of wild beasts than the voices of men. 

How profoundly may we suppose is the noble spirit of 
the Incarnate Son of God pierced by so grievous an affront, 
that not one in so immense a crowd should be found who 
will prefer Him to that monster of iniquity! The more 
furiously the impious rage against Him the more He is 
moved toward them with sentiments of the tenderest com- 
passion. He loves all those that hate Him. And what has 
reduced Him to support this ignominy but the love that He 
has had for me? Yes; for the very reason that I can not 
bear to be below certain persons, and would be preferred to 
a?l others my competitors, the Sovereign Lord has been 
pleased to be esteemed below a public malefactor; and as 
nothing more is expected of me but that I should learn 
from a God who so greatly humbles Himself not to be 
proud, but to imitate His humility, how should I not learn 
to love a virtue of which God has made Himself the Master, 

0) St. Mark xv, 9. ( 2 ) St. Luke xxiii, 18, 



330 JE8U8 REJECTED /A T FAVOR OF BARABBAS 

for me, by lowering His inestimable greatness under an 
appearance so astoundingly contemptible? 

I now reply by stating a truth which I have already 
spoken and spoken again more than a thousand times, and 
which I can not now repeat without blushing and being 
ashamed of myself because I never reduce it to practice. 
Most sweet J esus ! most humble J esus ! oh, how true it is, 
that Thy sacred Passion can not be meditated upon without 
humility meeting us at every stage! But what avail fine 
thoughts and discourses on humility if, after all, we are not 
humble ? However, I should be a proud fool if I imagined 
I could acquire so exalted a virtue by my own endeavors. 
What can I do without Thy help ? Ah, Thou Boon of the 
salvation of men ! remember that Thou art not come simply 
to teach me humility, but moreover to merit for me the 
grace which may make me humble in reality. Therefore, I 
trust in Thy merits to obtain the means and the end that I 
desire and hope for. 

I shall excite within me the desire of humility; and, 
loving abjection, which has been sanctified in the person 
of Jesus Christ, I shall beware of preferring myself to any 
one, esteeming myself unworthy to be considered as the 
least and last of all. 

IV. The Jews will always have two reproaches of con- 
science: — a malediction on all their Passovers, and in 
their souls the sentence of perdition for the most grievous 
crime of having asked for Barabbas to be granted them in 
preference to J esus Christ. What strange perversion, what 
frenzied fury, to rise up against the Author of their ex- 
istence and to cry for the murderer, the assassin, the crim- 
inal deserving of a thousand deaths, to be kept alive ! The 
Prophet, for this excess of wickedness, and in the name of 
the Saviour, cried out to the heavens, that they should be 
astonished because His beloved people had abandoned the 
fountain of living water, and had drunk from wells of 
their own. 

But let us not be too much enraged against the Jews; 
they are not as guilty as we are. Every sinner has, as it 



JESUS REJECTED IN FAVOR OF BARABBAS 331 



were, a pair of scales in his hands. On one side he places 
God, the Sovereign Good, who should be preferred, to 
every other good. On the other, a momentary indulgence, 
a most foul and shameful gratification. Then having, 
in the lirst place, reckoned with himself which it will 
be the better to choose, God or that miserable pleasure, he 
forms a deliberate, practical determination to count worthy 
of more esteem that apparent good than God. There is no 
exaggeration here. 

As the Jews said to Pilate, Away with this man, and re- 
lease unto us Barabbas; 1 so, in the act of sinning, a man 
says as much as the following: This creature is dearer to 
me than God. The gratification of this passion is dearer 
to me than God. The favor of the devil is dearer to me 
than the favor of God. My body is dearer to me than my 
soul. Vanity is dearer to me than eternity. An eternity 
of torments, than an eternity of glory. Such things can 
not be reflected upon without horror. It would seem that 
this preference of every little trifle to God was not com- 
patible with faith ; and yet in fact it is compatible, and yet 
it is done. How often has this been done by me? With 
whatever care I may examine my conscience, I could not 
tell the number of times. 

I accuse myself, my God ! of my wickedness and detest 
it with sorrow and repentance. Senseless fool that I have 
been, to prefer myself to Thee and to think more of gratify- 
ing myself than of pleasing Thee ! I retract this perver- 
sity, and with most humble earnestness calling on Thy 
mercy, I implore Thee to forgive me. Jesus! who, 
though rejected by all, rejectest no one, I beseech Thee to 
have pity on me. Henceforth I protest, in presence of all 
the angels and saints of heaven, that I shall always prefer 
Thee, the Eternal, Omnipotent, Infinite Good, to every 
other good whatsoever. I am resolved to love Thee. I do 
love Thee, and I will love Thee above all creatures, and 
with Thy help it shall never be true that for the sake of 
anything I would offend Thee. Thou art to me dearer than 

(0 St, Luke xxiii, 18. 



332 THE JEWS DEMAND CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS 



all the pleasures, all the treasures, and all the honors of the 
world. I love Thee more than myself. But dominate this 
unstable will of mine, because it may happen that in a 
moment, without Thy assistance, I shall love myself more 
than Thee. 

I shall examine what things I love to the prejudice of 
the love of God. I am not forbidden to love worthy objects, 
but with the love of preference God alone must be loved. 



CHAPTEE XLVI. 

THE JEWS DEMAND THE CRUCIFIXION OF JESTS CHRIST. 

I. Pilate knows not where to limit his wonder, that 

the Jews are come to so strange a choice as to wish that 
Barabbas should be set at liberty rather than Jesus Christ. 
He could never have imagined such a thing. Therefore, 
in order to force them to be ashamed and to turn from this 
iniquity, he says, What shall I do then with Jesus that is 
called Christ? 1 He says this as though he were leaving 
the matter to their discretion, in order to calm them, and 
conquer, as it were, by means of courtesy. But they, on 
the contrary, become only the more savage, and begin to 
cry out that Jesus should be crucified. blind minds, and 
without excuse in their wickedness ! Now it is that Jerusa- 
lem, according to the saying of the Prophet, has become a 
den of venomous dragons and of diabolical wild beasts; 
when, destitute of reason, without piety, after having asked 
that the malefactor should live, raging and roaring, they 
insist on the most innocent Saviour's being put to death. 

Let us now observe Jesus, who is neither moved to anger 
against these impious men nor in the least terrified by 
carrying the cross, nor by death, and that an infamous 
death. In all this let us consider the benignity of Jesus 
and the virtues that He is all the while practising, in a 
degree the most perfect, with the most intense energy of 

(i) St. Matt, xxvii, 22. 



TEE JEWS DEMAND CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS 333 



His Heart. He is exercising fortitude in opposition both 
to that fear which His most generous soul has of ignominy, 
and to that other fear that His most sensitive feelings have 
of death. He opposes patience to the insults that He suc- 
cessively meets ; meekness, humility, charity to the rage, the 
pride, the hatred of His enemies; and He shows us how, 
in every circumstance in which we may be assaulted by the 
malice of others, we should always resist and defend our- 
selves by the heroic practice of the opposite virtues. 

praiseworthy school, which Thou, my divine Master, 
dost open to me by Thy example ! But oh, the untractable, 
unworthy disciple that I am, to draw no sort of profit from 
such precious lessons! I am an abyss of the most dark- 
some wickedness, capable of being ingulfed in and habitu- 
ated to every kind of vice; but totally destitute of apti- 
tude for acquiring those supernatural virtues that are 
proper for me, and necessary if I would be saved. I see 
that Thy mercy does not abandon me, because Thou dost 
not cease to enlighten, to inspire, to assist me. But whence 
is this that I am yet, after all, full of vices, and during all 
this time have not arrived at the acquisition of a single 
virtue ? 

Ungrateful, malicious, outrageous wretch that thou art, 
my soul! Behold the cause of all the mischief. Thou 
dost not reflect on the Passion, except it be as thou wouldst 
think of a profane history. Oh ! if thou didst think of it 
as thou shouldst do, with lively faith ! Arise, then, implore 
the merits of thy most sweet Saviour and shake off thy 
tepidity ; dig out the treasure, and be assured thou wilt find 
that which thou hast not found till now. my Jesus ! to 
Thee I commend myself through the merits of Thy most 
sacred Passion. 

1 shall excite within me the desire to imitate the virtues 
of Jesus Christ, and I shall conclude that the first virtue 
to be imitated is His humility, since, without it, it is not 
possible that I can ever possess solid virtue. 

II. The Jews having tumultuously called out that Jesus 
should be crucified, Pilate pauses for a time to let the 



334 THE JEWS DEMAND CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS 



tumult subside. Not able to conceive how the crucifixion of 
an innocent man should be insisted on with such obstinate 
cruelty, and not choosing to yield to their clamors against 
the claims of justice,— moreover being especially moved by 
the entreaties of his wife, he answers thus with a loud 
voice, Why, what evil hath He do?ief 1 In saying this, while 
he declares Him innocent, he intimates also his inclina- 
tion to let Him go. Then the Jews, with increasing rage, 
again reply that He should be condemned to the cross. 
They give no answer to the question whether He has done 
any evil, because there is no evil discovered to have been 
done by Him, and they only break out into absurd clamor 
to gain their end of having Him condemned by dint of 
violence and blasphemies. 

Thus is accomplished what the Saviour had foretold in 
the Scriptures, and we may form an idea of what is done 
daily when a mortal sin is committed. An earthly pleasure 
is placed in competition with God ; and the pleasure, being 
preferred to God, the man cries, if not with his voice, at 
least by his actions, which is still worse : Wickedness for- 
ever, sin forever! Down with God! Let innocence die, let 
holiness be crucified! Meanwhile the sinner's conscience 
says to him, What evil hath thy God done to thee? Is it 
not He who hath given thee existence, who keeps thee alive, 
who crowns thee with benefits, and loves thee with more 
than paternal tenderness? But be this as it may, answers 
the sinner, rather than I should lose this pleasure, let God 
lose the life of His glory: What must the angels say in 
Paradise at the sight of such daring impiety ? 

And what ought I to say of myself, having often been the 
daring, the impious man who has cried down and silenced 
the remorse of my own conscience to dispute against my 
God ? Thrice have the Jews replied to Pilate, and by their 
answers made themselves the more guilty. How often, 
again and again, have I answered my conscience, being ob- 
stinately bent on offending God ? I should deserve, most 
holy Saviour, that for every time that I have cried against 

C 1 ) St. Matt, xxvii, 23. 



TEE JEWS DEMAND CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS 335 

Thee, Crucify Him ! 1 Thou shouldst cry against me on the 
Day of Judgment and multiply Thy maledictions upon me. 
But thanks to Thy mercy, which does not abandon me as it 
abandoned the Jews. I renounce and repent of my sins, 
and determine for the future always to cry out with firm- 
ness : Death to sin ! Live grace ! Death to sin ! Live 
Jesus ! 

I shall listen to the importunities of my conscience as 
graces and mercies of God, and shall determine to crucify 
my proud self-love with mortification, since it is that which 
has excited my passions to cry for Jesus to be crucified. 

III. Great was the impiety of the Jews to ask that 
Barabbas should be set free rather than Jesus Christ, as in 
doing this they counted more precious the life of a robber 
than that of the Saviour of the world; or rather, they de- 
nounced Him as worse than an infamous assassin. But if 
they had done no more than ask for the liberation of 
Barabbas, and left it to the judgment of the governor to 
do what he would with Jesus Christ, they would be less 
guilty. Their most heinous excess is in their asking for 
the criminal to be liberated in order that the just One may 
be condemned; and, in fact, asking in plain terms for the 
condemnation of this same just Man, while He was shame- 
fully calumniated by them as though He were more wicked 
than the public malefactor. 

Remember who they are that cry out so violently for the 
crucifixion of Jesus. They are those very men who a short 
time previously met Him with branches of olive, and loudly 
proclaimed Him Son of David, King of Israel. It is 
scarcely six days since they greeted Him with their accla- 
mations. Why, then, are they changed in so short a time 
so as to insist that He should die an infamous death? 
What has He done during these six days to deserve this 
death? He has preached from morning till night. He 
has been doing good to all, as was always His custom. 
And for this they cry against Him, Crucifige! world, 
how inconstant and how treacherous art thou ! 

0) St. Mark xv, 14. 



336 THE JEWS DEMAND CRUCIFIXION OF JE8U8 

But let us return to J esus. As His spirit has never been 
puffed up with vanity in the midst of honors, so neither is 
He cast down amidst ignominies. Whether in prosperity 
or in adversity, He has His eye fixed on nothing but the 
glory of His Eternal Father, and He is not in the least 
moved either by the praises or by the reproaches of the 
entire world. striking example for me ! This is the doc- 
trine that I must now learn. This is the resolution that I 
must now form, — neither to do anything with the desire of 
being praised, nor leave any of my duties undone for fear 
of being blamed. 

Although the whole world should praise me I shall not, 
on this account, save my soul. Although, again, all the 
world should blame me, I shall not therefore be damned. 
My eternity does not depend upon the judgments of men. 
My soul is in my own hands, and my destiny will depend 
upon my acting well or ill. my Jesus, my God ! give me 
strength, I beseech Thee, to follow in practice this virtue 
of Thine, of making no account of the vain, fallacious 
judgments of others, but in all my actions to direct my 
gaze to Thee, since Thou art my Judge, who will, one day, 
with truth and justice, examine my life. It will avail me 
nothing, then, that a good opinion has been entertained of 
me, if I am not good in Thy sight ; and it will be no preju- 
dice to me that I should be reckoned a worthless character 
in the opinion of all, provided before Thee my heart is 
right and just. 

Be it love of praise, be it fear of blame, it emanates from 
no other source than my pride. The true secret of not 
caring for what is said of me is to be humble; therefore, I 
shall ask Jesus for humility. 

IV. Pilate persists in his determination not to condemn 
Jesus Christ, repeating again and again that he sees no 
reason to condemn Him. The Jews also persist in their 
determination that, at any cost, He shall be condemned, 
giving their clamors a more resolute tone, and resolved that 
malice shall prevail over justice. Excited by the princes, 
but still more instigated by the devil, they cry out like 



THE JEWS DEMAND CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS 337 

madmen. Yet we must believe that the devil himself would 
rather have endeavored to calm them, had he been able to 
penetrate the merciful counsel of God. 

Let us penetrate it by the light of holy faith. The 
divine wisdom justly ordered that Jesus Christ should be 
declared innocent, and, at the same time, condemned to 
death as guilty, in order that it might be known that He 
was the Paschal Victim, pure and spotless, destined for the 
sacrifice, in satisfaction only for the sins of others, not for 
His own. Justly is Jesus condemned to death instead of 
Barabbas, and Barabbas set free instead of Jesus ; because 
Jesus truly came to suffer the punishment due to sinners, 
represented by Barabbas. It is by the condemnation of 
Jesus that we are made free. profound mysteries ! 

Well did Pilate say, divine Saviour ! that he found no 
cause for Thy death; for how could he, an infidel, find it, 
hidden as it was beneath Thy eternal decrees? Thou re- 
f usest not ignominies ; Thou ref usest not to die ; but Thou 
wiliest that men should understand what ' is the sublime 
cause of Thy death, and, at the same time, what is its grand 
effect. The cause was Thy love, and that most ardent 
desire which Thou hadst of making satisfaction for our 
sins. The effect was grace, forgiveness, reconciliation with 
God. Ah, my Jesus ! which shall I admire the more, — 
the malignity of the Jews against Thee, so cruel; or, Thy 
charity toward us, so tender? 

Withdraw thy thoughts, my soul ! from those inhuman, 
diabolical monsters, and pause to reflect upon and to rumi- 
nate the goodness of the Son of God made Man, and suffer- 
ing so much for thee, that thou mayest find motives for 
love of Him. Endeavor to form some conception of His 
boundless humility; and since for Thy love He abases 
Himself so far as to be content to pass for a greater sinner 
and more deserving of death than Barabbas, where wilt 
thou find a place more suited to thyself if not below all 
the devils in hell, — they are less wicked than thou ? my 
God! I fear that that feeling that rises in me as I speak, 
and which I call affection, is nothing but a delusion of the 



338 JESUS RESIGNS HIMSELF TO WILL OF JEWS 



understanding. Make me say from my heart that which I 
now repeat with my mind. Without Thee I know nothing, 
I can do nothing; I trust in Thee alone. 

That cause which Pilate can not find for the death of 
Jesus Christ, I shall find in my own conscience; and it is 
my sins. Against these I shall direct my zeal, rather than 
against the Jews. 



CHAPTEE XLVII. 

JESUS CHRIST RESIGNS HIMSELF TO THE WILL OF THE JEWS. 

I. We are come to the last great trial, in which the ques- 
tion is, concerning Jesus Christ, whether He shall be set 
free as innocent or condemned as guilty. It will turn on 
this, which of the two shall conquer : — whether Pilate, who 
would wish to absolve Him ; or the people, who would wish 
Him crucified. Here we must reflect to what an excess of 
misery the only-begotten Son of the Eternal Father has 
reduced Himself, His reputation and His life being ex- 
posed to extreme peril and no one being found to speak 
or to act for Him. pitiable condition! But we must 
reflect that nothing happens to Him but what has both been 
ordered by His Eternal Father, and willed by Himself. In 
proportion as He stands superior to all in the gifts of grace 
and of knowledge, and in all other most noble qualities, He 
has also humbled Himself and rendered Himself inferior 
to all by the ignominies which He endures, as the Prophet 
had foretold. And this is the eternal decree, that He 
should stoop to drink of the torrent of humiliations before 
He should lift up His head to be crowned with glory. 

Let us enter deeply into the Heart of this Man-God, to 
see how He represents His sufferings to His Father. He 
recommends Himself to Him as a poor abandoned orphan 
child, surrounded by His enemies filled with rage and 
hatred. It is in this position that He justly acknowledges 
Himself as a contemptible little worm, that lies in the 



JESUS RESIGNS HIMSELF TO WILL OF JEWS 339 

public highway, to be trampled on by every passing foot. 
Let it not be supposed that it is with Him as with us, who, 
when oppressed by some heavy calamity, are overwhelmed 
by our passions and have our reason obscured. 

Although so afflicted, Jesus Christ is troubled at noth- 
ing, nor do any vapors rise to cloud the serenity of His 
mind. The pain of sense in Him does not suspend the 
powers of His soul, nor does sorrow put a check to charity. 
His sadness does not diminish His fervor, and the clamor 
of those insulting cries causes in Him not the slightest dis- 
traction to prevent His spirit from continuing to act with 
entire fulness of sanctity and perfection. 

Learn, my soul! so to conduct thyself, that neither 
tribulation nor affliction nor disaster nor any creature of 
this world may hinder thee from remaining united with 
God by the action of the heart. It is by the operation of 
the interior that all that man does or suffers becomes 
precious. But what can I do, my Jesus ! of myself ; I 
who, without Thy assistance, am unable to pronounce Thy 
most holy name? Strengthen my weakness with Thy al- 
mighty power. Make me remember Thee, and think of 
Thee, and direct to Thee my intentions, so that I may love 
Thee and please Thee in whatever condition I may be 
placed. 

I shall strive to exercise interior acts, in imitation of 
J esus Christ, whether in prosperity or in adversity, whether 
in the duties proper to my state of life or in more indiffer- 
ent actions. 

II. Pilate knows that Jesus Christ is a just Man. He 
knows moreover that the J ews have maliciously calumniated 
Him, and that they are now determined barbarously to 
crucify Him. Therefore, he is, without doubt, inexcusable 
in his sin while consenting to their unjust demand for the 
condemnation of the innocent. .. Nevertheless he calls for 
water, in the presence of all the people, and washes his 
hands, to show by that ceremony that his conscience is 
clear, that he is not guilty of shedding the blood of Jesus 
Christ, and that they alone must answer for it since by 



340 JESUS RESIGNS HIMSELF TO WILL OF JEWS 



their clamors they have brought it about. The iniquitous 
judge knows the sin of the Jews, but he does not know his 
own, because he does not choose to know it, and he flatters 
himself with delusive conceit. Though he does not choose 
to consider himself guilty, it does not follow that he is not 
indeed guilty. 

Let us apply this case by reflecting upon ourselves. How 
many are there, in every condition of life, like Pilate, who 
will have it that an act of sin is not sin, precisely because 
they form ideas about it and frame a conscience for them- 
selves in their own way. But what ground is there for sup- 
posing that before the tribunal of God that sin will not be 
judged as mortal, which we do not choose to consider mortal 
because of a notion of our own? We ought to fear that 
God, who has declared that He will judge justice, will judge 
many injustices by which we justify ourselves, since we are 
more disposed to favor our concupiscence than our con- 
science. 

I must examine this point; it is an important one, and 
yet I make little account of it, because I am blinded by self- 
love. I know the fact is that I very easily make up my 
mind to accept those opinions that declare things lawful 
to which I have an inclination, and I take no pains to in- 
vestigate the truth, contenting myself with a probability 
which perchance will prove to be only a superficial and an 
apparent one. I love liberty, — not that of the children of 
God, but of the children of the world; and I am wont to 
consider as rigid and exacting many opinions which are 
grounded on the doctrine of the Gospel according to the 
views of the Fathers. 

I fear, my Saviour ! that Thou wilt judge me in the 
Valley of Josaphat with the same judgment that will be 
passed on Pilate. Thou hast said of Thyself that Thou art 
the Truth, and it is the truth that I ought to seek as far as 
possibly lies in me. And since this truth is easily discov- 
ered because of Thy promise that Thou wilt impart Thy 
lights to those who shall pray to Thee for the knowledge 
of the truth, how shall I be able to justify myself for not 



JESUS RESIGNS HIMSELF TO WILL OF JEWS 341 

having known the truth, whereas I have never prayed to 
Thee for light to know it? I pray to Thee now, my 
God! Suffer me not to go astray in the conduct of my 
life. Give me a spirit that will cause me always to love and 
desire and seek the truth, so that I may not be deceived 
into forming for myself a false conscience founded on false 
rules. 

In doubts of conscience I shall be careful not to rely on 
certain lax opinions. In my confessions I shall beware of 
passing over as a trifle what in reality may be a grievous 
fault. 

III. We must look upon the Jews as worse than Pilate, 
because if they had not known Jesus Christ as the true 
God they might, however, and they ought to have known 
Him as such by His miracles, His doctrine, and the sayings 
of the Prophets. Their not choosing to know Him, on ac- 
count of the envy and hatred that they entertained for Him, 
is an affected ignorance which rather makes them more 
guilty and more inexcusable. They had often heard and 
admired and acknowledged Him as a Saint; and yet, now 
that they have all together shouted out that they would 
have Him crucified, they pretend that by this sacrilegious 
determination they have been guilty not even of a venial 
sin. Pilate having charged their consciences with the un- 
just shedding of this innocent blood, — yes, they answer, we 
are satisfied that the punishment should fall upon us and 
upon our children. 

malice, how blind thou art! A little while ago thou 
didst bless Him in the name of God, and now thou dost cry 
against Him that He should be crucified. Thou didst 
scruple to enter the Praetorium for fear of defilement, and 
now thou hast no scruple to attempt the life of the Just. 
They think that there is not the slightest sin in all this ; but 
they deceive themselves, and in deceiving themselves they 
commit sin, because their malice has blinded them. 

The same is applicable to me. I believe and confess that 
God is most worthy to be loved and obeyed, and yet I 
offend Him ! That God whom I offend by my sins is the 



342 JESUS RESIGNS HIMSELF TO WILL OF JEWS 



same God that I adore in the tabernacles of churches, and 
in His universal immensity. And what shall we say of 
this — at one. moment to honor this God by so many acts of 
religion, at another to outrage Him by so many shameful 
deeds ! my God ! in what clear light does my faith place 
my wickedness ! On the other hand, how blind and senseless 
does my wickedness render me ! The saints, in examining 
their conscience, discover stains of every species of fault 
and imperfection, while I pass over, as almost nothing, 
certain sins which, in so many minds, would cause horror. 
The Jews maintained that it was no sin to crucify Thee, 
because they judged Thee deserving of death; but I know 
Thee to be deserving of honor and immortal glory. Not- 
withstanding this knowledge, I crucify Thee and reckon 
this deicide to be a trifling affair. 

Ah ! is there on earth a reprobate worse than I ? There 
is no worse; but yet I trust Thy mercy, my Saviour! 
Thou most ardent Lover of the salvation of men ! I . im- 
plore Thee to cleanse me from those secret sins which I 
know not through a judicial blindness which I have merited 
for myself. Enlighten my conscience, I beseech Thee. 
Look not on my iniquities with the rigor of justice, to 
punish them, but with an eye of pity in order to forgive 
them, and grant me Thy love. 

IV. Pilate hears the imprecations of the Jews, who call 
down upon themselves and on all their descendants the 
revenge of this innocent blood. An imprecation truly cruel 
and horrible ! Astounded at it, he immediately sets free 
the seditious Barabbas whom they had asked for as a favor, 
and at the same time gives up to their pleasure J esus Christ, 
that they may do with Him as they wish. What else do 
they wish but that He should be put to death on the cross ? 
The Evangelist says that he gave Him up as a prey to their 
will. Could He have been given up to a more unjust and 
more impious judge ? 

This, however, is what we also do whenever we sin. We, 
all of us, have a will, which is called the will of the flesh, 
our own will ; that is, the will of our self-love, which follows 



JESUS RESIGNS HIMSELF TO WILL OF JEWS 343 



the corrupt instinct of the passions and is diametrically 
opposed to and resists God. So that when God forbids any- 
thing, and this will chooses it in spite of God, it claims to 
have the right to set itself up against God and to gain the 
victory -over God. So depraved and fierce is it that it en- 
deavors, as far as lies in its power, to put God to death 
by desiring, if it could, that God should be no longer God. 
To this self-will Jesus Christ is given up the moment that 
we commit mortal sin, and what does it desire but that He 
should be crucified anew? wicked will! Treacherous 
will! But while I say this I am talking to the air. I 
ought properly to say of this will that it is my own. 

my Jesus ! I have within me a whole nation of passions 
that continually urge me to sin in one way or another ; they 
shout against Thee incessantly, Crucifige! Cruciflge! 
How often have I given Thee over as a prey to the wicked 
will of these people! At every moment I feel this sinful 
will opposing Thy love, and driving me with vehemence to 
the love of vanity. When shall it be that I will resolve in- 
deed to check the pride of my self-love, which is the cause 
and the source of every evil within me; to attach myself 
solely to Thy will, which is the source of all my good? 

my soul ! in thought descend into hell and behold that 
there below the divine justice punishes nothing but self- 
will. Self-will alone is burnt in that eternal fire. There- 
fore, if self-will did not exist, neither would there be 
a hell. Beflect well. If thy self-will chooses now to crucify 
Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ will likewise crucify this same 
self-will of thine in eternity. What then? — Make me, 
my J esus ! love Thy infinite goodness, and fear Thy infinite 
justice. 

The mortification of my own will shall be the constant ex- 
ercise of my life. I shall moreover mortify it in things law- 
ful, to accustom myself to mortify it greatly and with more 
effect in unlawful things. 

V. On the one hand, the Jews should never have so 
cruelly demanded that Jesus should be crucified; nor, on 
the other, should Pilate so unjustly have permitted it. The 



344 JESUS RESIGNS HIMSELF TO WILL OF JEWS 



sight alone of that innocent Lamb undergoing such calum- 
nies, such outrages, and such torments in silence, without a 
word to justify Himself and without a word of resentment, 
with patience and meekness, is manifestly superhuman. Is 
not this sufficient to make us draw back from so iniquitous 
a judgment? When Jesus answered the questions proposed 
to Him, we can understand from His prudent words that 
He was a wise Man. Again, when He remained silent, 
proving Himself superior to injuries, we can see that there 
was in Him more virtue than appertains to a man. 
Whether in His words or in His silence, there is matter only 
for admiration. Yet no one derived profit from anything. 

judgments of Heaven, profound abyss ! The Jews have 
said and done so much that at last they have prevailed. 
Although they had previously heard the divine Master 
preach that respect must be paid to justice, they recollect 
nothing. They insist that the Just One should be con- 
demned contrary to all reasons of justice. And the just 
Jesus, in so great distress, what says He? What does He 
think? Beholding verified the Prophetic oracle, — that 
iniquity would prevail in judgment, — He adores, with most 
profound submission, the justice of His heavenly Father, 
and remains silent, without being in the least discom- 
posed at the injustice of men. 

And what sayest thou, what thinkest thou, my soul [ 
on seeing thy Lord proclaimed as worse than a public male- 
factor and judged worthy to be put to death on the cross, 
the worst of all punishments? I am thinking, Lord! 
that Thou who now art judged so unjustly wilt one day 
come to judge all the world with justice and equity. In 
this will this equity consist: that, without acceptance of 
persons, Thou shalt give to each either eternal glory ac- 
cording to his good works, or eternal punishment according 
to his evil deeds. And what, then, will be the case with me, 
who have so frequently cried out with the Jews against 
Thee, Crucifige! 

This is what I am thinking, and while I think thus, I 
humble myself and exclaim: Mercy, my God! Mercy, 



JESUS CON DE 31 NED TO BE SCOURGED 345 



my God ! since Thy mercy alone can assist me. I ought 
never to have offended Thee, especially on account of so 
many mercies which Thou hast deigned to grant me. But 
having offended Thee, ought I, in consequence, to despair? 

1 believe the loving kindness of my Eedeemer to be un- 
speakably greater than the wickedness of me a sinner; 
therefore I repent and I am grieved for my iniquities. 
my God, I hope and confide in Thy infinite goodness ! 

I shall beg J esus Christ to assist me by His grace, that I 
may not become insensible to His mercies like the Jews. 
If I do not profit by the examples offered me in His holy 
Passion, I shall in reality be like them. 



CHAPTEE XLVIIL 

JESUS CHRIST CONDEMNED TO BE SCOURGED. 

I. Pilate yields to the solicitations of the Jews, by 
delivering Jesus Christ into their hands to do what they 
will with Him. However, as he sees the wrong that is about 
to be inflicted on the innocent Victim, he has recourse to 
another expedient, and he decrees that Jesus shall be 
scourged, thus hoping that the people may be satisfied and 
appeased and finally persuaded to abandon their cruel pur- 
pose. It was the custom that those who were condemned to 
the cross should be scourged. But in this case it seems that 
the judge had a kind intention toward Jesus Christ, and 
scourged Him in order to satisfy His enemies and save Him 
from death. 

Nevertheless, unjust sentence ! barbarous sentence ! 
If thou knowest, Pilate, that this Man has done no evil, 
how canst thou conclude that He deserves the punishment 
of scourging, which is inflicted on malefactors only? Is 
there justice in punishing one who is pronounced innocent ? 
This is making thyself guilty of that depravity which a 
short time ago thou didst deprecate in the Jews. But let 
us not waste time in reproaches against the governor in- 



346 JESUS CONDEMNED TO BE SCOURGED 

stead, rather, of learning a lesson ourselves. He conceives 
that the people would be tranquillized by giving them this 
satisfaction; but he deceives himself, because, having been 
so far gratified as to have Him scourged, they perfidiously 
insisted likewise on His being crucified. This is what also 
happens to us. 

The more we seek to gratify our passions, the more arro- 
gant and insolent they become. Curiosity increases in 
proportion as we gratify our eyes; gluttony increases by 
gratifying the appetite; the cravings of lust, anger, sloth, 
and of every other vice, by little and little grow stronger 
in proportion as we satisfy them; and by not scrupling to 
commit venial sins, wickedness grows, and we come to 
mortal sins. 

Oh, that in the past I had made profitable reflections on 
this subject! Hence arises all the evil within me. As 
Pilate was at first far, very far, from crucifying Jesus 
Christ, and yielded thereto by degrees in condescending to 
the wishes of the people, so have I also often arrived at 
crucifying Jesus Christ by my sins because I have been 
easily drawn into gratifying the rabble of my passions and 
senses. 

my God! for the past there is no other remedy than 
humbling myself and deploring my transgressions, but for 
the time to come I must surely be more guarded. My ap- 
petites must be mortified, not pampered. For this I im- 
plore Thee to fortify me in my weakness and to encourage 
me in my pusillanimity. Thou, my Jesus, dost not deserve 
to be offended in the least point. I promise, with Thy as- 
sistance, to refrain from ever again offending Thee; — 
yes, from every offence, even venial, lest I fall by degrees 
into mortal, and perhaps likewise into final impenitence. 

1 shall thoroughly learn how immense is the danger of 
giving a loose rein to my passions, or granting them any 
satisfaction. Moreover, I shall determine to resist their 
movements in their commencement. 

II. Scarcely had Pilate given orders for the scourging 
of Jesus Christ, when they began immediately to prepare 



JESUS CONDEMNED TO BE SCOURGED 347 

for the execution of them. The officers surround Him and 
drag Him furiously into the court, to the place in which 
assassins and other infamous criminals are tied in order to 
be publicly flogged. Oh, how the Jews exult over this evi- 
dence that Pilate gives of having Him convicted as a 
criminal deserving of death by condemning Him to this 
punishment, which it is not the custom to inflict except on 
the most barbarous culprits. And, oh ! what is the joy also 
of J esus Christ at beholding the dawn of that morning and 
that hour announced by the Prophets, and foretold and so 
ardently desired by Himself, when He should shed His 
blood under the scourges for the salvation of the world ! 
The apprehension that caused sadness to Him in the garden 
now causes Him joy, because His time has come in which 
He has to pay the price of our Eedemption. 

Behold, my soul! thy Saviour with tranquillity hum- 
bling Himself before the Majesty of the Eternal Father, 
declaring Himself perfectly ready to submit to a torture 
so painful and so ignominious. See ho'w He suffers Him- 
self to be led by the executioners, with so much shame to 
Himself, whither they choose; most meek, most obedient, 
without giving the least sign, under His afflictions, of 
either resistance or impatience. Being the Son of man, in 
becoming Man, He had already assumed the form of a 
servant that He might be subject to all. Now He takes the 
form of a wicked servant who deserves to be beaten. The 
form, not of servant of the servants of God, but of servant 
of the servants of the devil, — that is, of His executioners. 

my Jesus ! who could fathom Thy Heart to see that 
loving thirst which Thou hast to suffer and to satisfy for 
me ! But, without seeing it, I believe it to be most ardent, 
and I render Thee thanks for it, if not as I ought, at least 
as well as I can, with all the strength of my poor soul. Let 
Thy dignity and most ardent charity supply the want of 
what I owe Thee. Permit me to offer one petition 
prompted by the desire that I have to imitate Thee: As 
Thou hast accepted with such good will the sentence of 
scourging in satisfaction to the divine justice for my sins, 



348 



JESUS CONDEMNED TO BE SCO URGED 



so give me also the grace that I may accept with a willing 
heart those scourges of temporal adversity with which Thy 
mercy shall deign to afflict me. All is but little in com- 
parison with the pains that I deserve, and yet I can not 
endure a misfortune, however trifling, without yielding to 
vexation and impatience. Grant, my God! that the 
scourges of Thy tender hand — poverty, infirmity, dishonor, 
tribulations, — may serve to humble and convert me, and 
not, through my faults- and obstinate hardness, to damn 
me. Thou dost treat me as a father when Thou chastisest 
me, and I should correspond to all Thy paternal chastise- 
ments with filial love. 

I shall learn that in tribulations we may be afflicted and 
yet resigned, after the example of Jesus Christ, in whom 
affliction is no hindrance to resignation. Let sense groan, 
but the spirit be united with God. 

III. Jesus Christ is no sooner come into the great court, 
where He is to be scourged, than the executioners hasten to 
set Him loose from His bonds and strip Him of His clothes, 
leaving Him naked. what joy, what outburst of laughter 
among that insolent rabble as they look at Him ! And oh, 
how is the face of the blessed Saviour suffused with painful 
blushes through shame ! He is that God who covers the 
air with clouds and the exalted heavens with glory ; who 
clothes the earth with herbs and the flowers with their 
charming mantle. Now, behold His most beautiful body 
publicly stripped naked. In His soul He is clothed with 
grace, strength, and holiness. In His body He is clothed 
only with confusion, from the exceeding ignominy and 
shame cast upon His modesty and virginal purity, exposed 
as it is to the gaze of all. 

Why is it that He, who afterward clothed with light so 
many holy virgins whom tyrants have made martyrs by the 
torment of nakedness, does not now protect Himself? We 
must answer, that the shame of nakedness being a punish- 
ment entailed on the sin of Adam, He suffers it in order to 
ward off that horrible shame that threatens sinners when, 
gn the Day of Judgment, their iniquities shall be laid bare 



JE&US CONDEMNED TO BE SCOURGED 349 

before all the world. He endures the nakedness of His 
body to cover the shameful nakedness of our souls with 
garments of virtue and of grace. 

good J esus ! how much more than all others am I 
bound to thank Thee for Thy generous love toward me, and 
to sympathize with Thee in that confusion and amid those 
blushes that Thou endurest for me! To me, to me, is 
justly due confusion and punishment for my sins; not to 
Thee, who sufferest it solely out of love and as a propitia- 
tion. But what shall become of me if I do not reap benefit 
from Thy merits? I foresee that my shame will be horri- 
ble at the Last Judgment, when my guilty conscience shall 
be laid bare and my wickedness shall appear wholly naked 
in the presence of all the saints and angels, who will cast 
upon me their reproaches. Ah, my J esus ! by that shame 
which was so humiliating to Thee give me a holy shame 
that may truly humble me at the remembrance of my sins. 
How many reasons have I now to be ashamed and to hum- 
ble myself at the recollection of so many enormities com- 
mitted by me in thoughts, words, and works! If I en- 
deavored to make a numerical calculation of my sins, oh, 
what an amount would it be, — destined to cause me not 
only shame but terror! 

Shame for having sinned is beneficial as a remedy for 
the past ; but, as a preventive for the time to come, I shall 
form a conception of how shameful sin is in itself, and I 
shall be ashamed of sin in order not to commit it. 

IV. The Jews, after making game of Jesus Christ, with 
fits of laughter at seeing Him naked, now burst out with 
rage and vomit abuse upon Him for the simple reason, as 
the Prophet says, that they behold Him so willingly dis- 
posed to submit to the scourge. Nevertheless, fearful of 
His escaping through some power of magic or something 
of the sort, they mix with the Gentiles and bind Him fast 
to the pillar, the usual place for the punishment of culprits. 
This is the third time that He is bound, the cords having 
already been multiplied about Him: — first in the garden, 
then before Caiphas. It is of His own free will that He, 



350 JESUS CONDEMNED TO BE SCOURGED 

overcome with bashfulness, allows Himself to be bound, 
putting forth and offering those sacred hands which, by a 
simple touch, have enlightened the blind and raised the 
dead to life. 

But who has been so bold, after having dared to strip 
Him, now also to bind Him? Let us adore the dispensa- 
tions of divine mercy, and say, that no one has been able 
to do Him any violence except so far as He Himself has 
been pleased. To speak correctly, it is the Eternal Father, 
who by the force of an immense charity, binds Him and 
constrains Him to hold in His hands more firmly that chal- 
ice of the Passion which was presented to Him in the gar- 
den. It is His Eternal Father, who knowing that His Son 
had compared Himself to a vine, now, like a husbandman, 
ties Him to the pillar, as the vine is commonly tied to the 
stake, in order to bear fruit in more abundance. It is 
Jesus Christ who suffers Himself to be thus bound without 
fault, to pay the penalty for us, not heeding the dishonor 
of His bonds, except for the reason alone that He appears 
to undergo the scourging through necessity, whereas He 
undergoes it for love. Here is what I must fix my thoughts 
upon throughout the Passion: — Jesus suffers nothing by 
necessity; all through love! 

Most sweet Jesus ! who art come into the world to free 
from the fetters of sin all the sons of Adam, now at the 
pillar Thou dost prepare to pay the price of our ransom. 
But how can I rejoice over my liberty, when I behold Thee 
bound and about to be beaten like the meanest slave? 
dear Son of God! how good art Thou, since Thou art 
pleased that I should thank Thee, and love Thee, and 
should moreover take comfort from all the good I gain! 
This I ought to do, and I have diligently performed it. 
With my whole heart I thank Thee, and I shall thank Thee. 
With my whole heart I love Thee and I shall love Thee con- 
stantly and above and beyond all things, — only grant me 
Thy help ; I mean, one of those efficacious helps that Thou 
hast merited for me in Thy Passion, to the end that I may 



JESUS CHRIST SCOURGED AT THE PILLAR 351 

worthily thank Thee and love Thee in this life and in the 
next, for all ages, world without end. Amen. 

Let the fruit be, to cooperate with the grace that Jesus 
Christ has merited for me by His bonds, by striving to free 
myself from the bonds of sin by penance, from the bonds 
of evil habits by doing violence to myself and mortifying 
myself. 



CHAPTER XUX. 

JESUS CHEIST SCOUEGED AT THE PILLAE. 

I. Entering now upon the contemplation of the scourg- 
ing of Jesus Christ, the first suffering unto blood with 
which His enemies torment Him in His Passion, it is well 
to remark, in the first place, that the Evangelists do not 
mention it, except barely to advert to it in a word or two 
at most. They were perhaps restrained by horror, or by 
the bare impossibility of doing justice to the subject; or 
probably, we may again say, they only speak of it in pass- 
ing, leaving to us concerning this mystery only the seed of 
the truth, in order that afterward we may cause it to germi- 
nate in our hearts by pious meditations. They do not, how- 
ever, conceal it beneath the veil of secrecy, — the Holy Spirit 
ordering that this painful disgrace, which to us is full of 
sublime glory, should in this manner be made known to us. 

In fact, most injurious to Jesus Christ is this punish- 
ment, which formerly was never inflicted upon respectable 
persons, but was altogether reserved for the punishment 
either of most rebellious slaves, or of robbers and most 
wicked malefactors. Nevertheless He suffers it with an 
intrepidity, a constancy, and a calmness of mind beyond 
words to express. It is no confusion to Him to undergo 
confusion. He suffers Himself to be flogged by these min- 
isters of injustice, and to the last degree to be dishonored by 
blows, and He behaves under the scourges in such a way 
as though it were not Himself who received the strokes, but 
some one else. 



352 JESUS CHRIST SCOURGED AT THE PILLAR 

From what motive does He receive encouragement in His 
suffering? It is for our welfare. He endures the punish- 
ment of a slave to redeem slaves. He suffers the reproach of 
scourging to deliver us from the reproach of eternal damna- 
tion which, by the divine decree, would be our lot. He takes 
upon Him our evils to impart to us His goods, and bears 
the punishment of our sins, as though they were His own, 
in order that we may enjoy the honor and the merit of 
grace, justice, and holiness, which are all His own. 

What an abasement for a God, who, after clothing Him- 
self with human flesh, should allow His deified limbs to be 
so cruelly scourged ! What an honor for me, that a God so 
loves me as to submit to be scourged for me ! Oh, how am 
I bound to make a return of love to that God for the great, 
the exceeding great, account He has made of me, His most 
vile creature ! And, likewise, if every dishonor that I en- 
dure for Him is honor to Him, how comes it that there is 
so much opposition and so much aversion to everything that 
has but the semblance of dishonor, though perhaps it is a 
dishonor only in my own imagination? This is all on ac- 
count of my insuperable pride. Consequently do I not 
deserve, my God! that Thou shouldst humble me by 
force, sending me also in this world dishonor of every kind, 
since I will not humble myself for love ? Yes, I deserve to 
be scourged with respect to my pride ; and because I desire 
to please Thee, Lord, I pray Thee, give me holy humility. 
Humiliations suffered against my will may make me a 
reprobate, and I am aware that true humility can not fail 
to make me a saint. 

I shall give glory to Jesus Christ for the ignominy that 
He suffers under the scourges; and I shall resolve to imi- 
tate Him by suffering, at least, the scourge of those tribula- 
tions that it shall please the Lord to send me. 

II. Extremely disgraceful is the scourging of Jesus 
Christ. It is a spectacle horrible to Heaven and earth, and 
moreover so painful as to surpass our conception. But, at 
least to comprehend the excessive pain attached to it, we 
must first understand that the Person who is scourged is 



JESUS CHRIST SCOURGED AT THE PILLAR 353 



the true Son of God, miraculously formed, as to His body, 
with most tender flesh and most delicate constitution, 
and made thus on purpose that He might be able to feel 
every degree of most intense pain. Therefore, He felt more 
acutely a slight puncture than we would feel being thrust 
through with a sword. Consequently, His pain must have 
been so much the more poignant as His nature was more 
sensitive. 

Having, in the first place, pondered all this well, my 
soul! behold in what manner those merciless tormentors, 
with savage, unheard-of cruelty, discharge their blows on 
that virginal, spotless and deified flesh. One blow follows 
another on the shoulder, the breast, on every part of that 
most sacred body. That man must have a heart of stone 
who does not compassionate the suffering J esus in His pain- 
ful ignominies and His ignominious pains. Why, then, is 
it that I do not feel my heart in the least touched, when I 
should, nevertheless, experience some sensible displeasure 
at beholding so barbarous a scourging? 

Ah, my God! I know whence proceeds this dryness. It 
is because I do not think of that which I ought always to 
keep before the eyes of my mind: — that Thou dost suffer 
Thyself to be scourged for me and for my sins. Now, how- 
ever, I believe with an act of faith, that for grief over my 
sins Thy most sweet Heart was broken in the garden; so, 
in like manner, for these same sins of mine was Thy most 
sacred body maltreated at the pillar. The least that I can 
do is to curse and to detest all my sins, and to bless and to 
thank Thy love. My sins are mine, on account of their 
guilt ; Thou hast made them Thine by Thy sufferings, as I 
behold Thee, before my eyes, receiving on Thyself — the 
Holy, the Undefiled, the Innocent, — those savage blows that 
are due to me a sinner. love, love of God, to what excess 
hast thou gone for me ! And shall I persist in being, not- 
withstanding, hard and ungrateful? Ah, my most loving 
Jesus, most worthy to be loved ! make me love Thee with a 
love sincere and strong, prepared to accept and suffer every 
scourge of adversity and tribulation for Thee. We can not 



354 JESUS CHRIST SCOURGED AT THE PILLAR 



love Thee without imitating Thee. I desire to be Thy 
imitator, to make myself worthy of Thy love. 

I shall resolve to endure some inconvenience or displeas- 
ure for the love of Jesus Christ. I shall make a virtue of 
necessity, and I shall give to my virtue its true value by 
exalting it to a supernatural degree by means of holy love. 

III. Those barbarous men surround Jesus Christ, like 
so many wasps longing to draw His blood. The blood is 
already prepared under the skin; since through the shame 
of His nakedness, which surpassed what any man on earth 
ever suffered, it has risen not only to His face, but it is 
spread between the flesh and the skin so as to make the 
whole of His body blush. His most tender skin then 
breaking at the first strokes, it issues forth in streamlets 
from every part, so that the sacred blood covers the scourges 
and the pillar, — nay, covers and bedews the earth. 

Xow we may say that the prophecy is fulfilled, — that the 
body of Jesus Christ is like a purse, and the blood which 
runs through His veins like precious coin, which is to 
serve as the price for the Eedemption of the world. When 
that all-holy Humanity is rent open by dint of blows, the 
price of the blood issues forth to satisfy for us. Behold 
how precious is my soul, since it cost nothing less than the 
invaluable blood of a God ! And yet, this soul valued at so 
high a rate by the wisdom of God, at what value do I prize 
it practically myself ? 

blind, mad being that I am! Every time that I 
sin I sell my soul to the devil for a vain thing, for a noth- 
ing. Thus have I sold it many times for momentary, base 
pleasures; but, while I see the Word of God made Man 
pouring out and spending with immense pain His own 
blood to redeem it, what value ought I, too, to learn to put 
upon it ! Ah, if my soul were of small account, would the 
Son of God have come of His own accord to suffer for it 
what He suffers? 

my God ! I am terrified at the thought that a day will 
come when I shall have to render Thee an account of every 
drop of blood which Thou hast shed for me. Alas ! what 



JESUS CHRIST SCOURGED AT THE PILLAR 355 

shall I say when I shall see, on that day, both how much 
has been done by Thee to save me and how much I have 
done to damn myself ? I shall then know the excess of Thy 
mercy and the depth of my wickedness. But what shall it 
avail me then to know this, except to cast me into despair ? 

Ah, most gentle Saviour ! give me light to know the truth 
now to my profit, that I may jealously watch over and safe- 
guard my soul as a treasure of infinite value which is worth 
as much as Thy divine blood. I ought to give Thee blood 
for blood ; but, knowing as I do, that although I should 
give Thee the whole of this my blood that circulates in my 
body, I should give Thee but a vile refuse, I will give Thee 
instead, and I now give and make over to Thee, my soul ; — 
no longer mine, but Thine, because it was purchased by 
Thee with Thy blood. Moreover, I promise to care for it, 
that I may never again stain it with sin. 

I shall repent of the small account that in times past I 
have made of my soul, principally for this reason, — that by 
making small account of my soul, I have made small ac- 
count of the blood of J esus Christ. 

IV. Jesus is covered with His blood. With His blood 
scattered abroad through the air are His torturers sprin- 
kled on their clothes, arms and face. Yet, at the sight of 
so much blood, those impious men are nowise moved to 
pity. Nay, rather, as though becoming more savage and 
barbarous, they prolong this storm of stripes upon Him, 
mutilating His blessed flesh, multiplying stroke upon 
stroke, wound upon wound, pain upon pain. His back and 
breast being mangled at every point, all His ribs may be 
seen, and well-nigh all His bones may be counted. Who in 
all that multitude is there that looks on Jesus with an eye 
of compassion ? Not one. 

For that poor man who is described in the Gospel as 
fallen into the hands of robbers and grievously wounded on 
the road to Jericho, there was found a Samaritan who took 
pity on him. He gave him remedies and bound up his 
wounds. But for Jesus Christ, who is moved to pity? 
Where art thou, Mary, and the other Marys? The 



356 JESUS CHRIST SCOURGED AT THE PILLAR 



Prophet had foretold that no one would bring balm nor 
binding to heal the wounds of the Saviour. And how bitter 
were His pains ? One of us, who strikes himself with a dis- 
cipline, feels indeed the first blows; but the pain subsides 
by degrees, because his flesh grows either callous or be- 
numbed, and the pain of sense is lost. But with Jesus 
Christ this is not the case. His flesh was made for this 
purpose, to feel and smart under every slight injury ; hence 
He feels and suffers the torture of every stroke, without any 
alleviation of the pain, from His sense being more acute 
and always impressionable. He suffers because He chooses 
to suffer. In Him it is His will that gives to nature the 
power to feel and to suffer every degree of most intense 
pain. 

good Jesus, who art the Saint of saints ! why hast Thou 
chosen to expose Thyself to the painful endurance of so 
many wounds ? In these wounds I read Thy love ; and, by 
the light of my faith, I see that Thou hast permitted Thy- 
self to be thus covered with wounds only to heal the wounds 
of my soul. My wounds pain Thee more than Thy own. 
I am the wretch who, worse than these tormentors, has 
added wound upon wound on Thy body by adding sin to 
sin in myself. The scourging that tortured Thee at thei 
pillar lasted but a short time ; but for years and years has* 
my wickedness gone on cruelly scourging Thee, while mul- 
tiplying iniquities beyond all bounds. 

most merciful J esus ! I throw myself at Thy feet to 
implore Thy mercy, since I have nothing in which to find 
comfort but in this. That mercy that causes Thee to bear 
the injustice and the fury of all these strokes with so much 
love for me, let this also move Thee to pardon me and to 
bear with me and to give me the grace to employ the re- 
mainder of my life in penance. 

In imitation of Jesus Christ, who suffers more for my 
sins than from His own wounds, I also shall grieve more 
for these sins than for any evil whatsoever. There is no 
evil that can be denominated real evil in comparison with 
sin. 



JESUS CHRIST SCOURGED AT THE PILLAR 357 



V. It is understood from approved revelations that the 
strokes received by J esus Christ in His scourging amounted 
to thousands. However, the truth is best expressed by say- 
ing that these strokes, as they were without pity, were also 
without number. There was a law that culprits should be 
more or less scourged according to the quality of their 
crimes ; still, that the strokes should not exceed forty. But 
for Jesus Christ there was neither law nor rule nor measure 
nor order ; consequently, there was no limit to the number. 
Purposing to satisfy for all by bearing the punishments 
due to all, which are likewise without number, how should 
it not be reasonably believed that, accordingly, the strokes 
inflicted upon Him in the scourging were without num- 
ber? And that in proportion to what the sinner deserves, 
the Eedeemer was scourged? 

There would have been sufficient to redeem the whole 
human race in His enduring one single stroke, in the open- 
ing of one solitary wound, or the shedding of one drop alone 
of His blood, by virtue of the Divinity which was united to 
His Humanity; but what was enough to satisfy divine 
justice did not suffice to satisfy His love. Had human 
nature been capable of suffering more He would have suf- 
fered more, and willingly, from the consideration that He 
was not suffering for Himself, but for us. As the strokes 
are discharged on Him one after another, making wound 
upon wound, He exhibits to us at the same time the visible 
signs of His charity; and why, except to force us to love 
Him in return, since the obtaining of our eternal salvation 
depends on our love for Him? 

J esus, pierced through at one and the same time with 
love and pain! For thy love I thank Thee, and for Thy 
pain I compassionate Thee. I know the object of Thy love : 
it is my soul, which Tnou hast loved from all eternity. The 
subject of Thy pain I also know: it is not so much the 
scourges of the executioners, but far more the sins of the 
world, and mine especially, which are heaped and multi- 
plied upon Thy back. 

Oh, Thy goodness must be great, exceeding great, to love 



358 JESUS CHRIST SCOURGED AT THE PILLAR 



this vile soul of mine on which Thou shouldst not deign to 
cast one look ! Oh, and my wickedness too must be great, 
exceeding great, for me not only not to love Thee, but to 
offend Thee, and to add sin to sin incessantly ! 

most loving Jesus! by that multitude of wounds upon 
wounds on Thee, which could not be numbered one by one, 
wound my heart with Thy love, so that from the wound of 
love may gush forth tears of sorrow and repentance. It is 
impossible for me to grieve as I should for having offended 
Thee, if I do not love Thee. I ask Thee for Thy love, so 
that I may have that sorrow which is necessary in order 
that Thou mayest be my Saviour efficaciously. 

1 shall produce acts of love to Jesus Christ, and make 
acts of sorrow for my sins. I shall not grow weary of them, 
for if in other virtues there should be some rule and meas- 
ure, with regard to love and contrition we can never do too 
much. 

VI. To understand how barbarous was the scourging of 
Jesus Christ, we must furthermore reflect that not only 
the ministers of Pilate, but likewise the Jews themselves, 
take in their hands the scourges to torment Him, becoming 
His executioners after having been His accusers and His 
judges. Therefore, being at the height of their fury against 
Him, filled with diabolical rage and paid by the rulers to 
make them treat Him with the utmost cruelty, we can not 
doubt that they applied the whole force of their arms to 
give weight to their blows. The perfidious wretches fear 
lest Pilate should let Him go free after the scourging, as 
he has already said he would. Having Him, then, in their 
hands, with liberty to scourge Him as much as they wish, it 
is most probable that, providing themselves with various 
kinds of scourges, they crowd around Him, contending 
who shall tear and mangle Him the most, so that they 
may have the satisfaction to see Him die. 

It is a conflict between cruelty and patience. The J ews, 
on the one side, have an insatiable thirst for the death of 
Jesus Christ, and multiply their strokes to the utmost of 
their strength to make Him die as soon as possible. Jesus 



JESUS CHRIST SCOURGED AT THE PILLAR 359 



Christ again, on His side, has an ardent thirst to accom- 
plish by His death the Redemption of the world; but, as 
He is resolved to die upon the cross, He works a miracle at 
every stroke in order to keep Himself alive. The cruelty 
which strikes is at length exhausted, while the patience 
which endures the strokes is untiring. Are we not forced 
by our reason to acknowledge Him as God by His patience 
alone? He hides His Divinity under His wounds and 
ignominies that He may appear in the form only of a man, 
the most contemptible and abject; but not giving any sign 
of impatience by which He may be known as Man, He de- 
clares Himself God by His unconquerable patience. For 
who but a Man-God could intrepidly stand beneath a storm 
of blows so numerous and so furious ? 

patience of God ! God of patience ! how ought I to 
blush , when I reflect on this virtue of patience so loved and 
practised by Thee, so hated and shunned by me! What 
confusion for me to behold Thee employing Thy omnipo- 
tence to work miracles in order to suffer, and then to reflect 
on myself, who bestow all my care only on seeking pleasures 
and conveniences for my body? How can the enjoyments 
of the world be a gain for me, when I know that Thou art 
fainting beneath the scourges ? 

my God! who being in Thy own nature impassible, 
hast made Thyself Man on purpose to become subject to 
suffering, impart to me the spirit of patience, and courage 
to practise it meritoriously for Thy love. Let this be the 
fruit that I shall draw from meditating on Thy sacred 
Passion ; that I may have patience to suffer something daily 
for Thee, as Thou hast had patience to suffer such pains 
for me. 

1 shall make particular resolutions to mortify myself 
with some inconvenience or corporal penance, in imitation 
of Jesus Christ ; and I shall do violence to myself in order 
to overcome the bad habit I have of rebellious aversion to 
suffering. 

VII. It was necessary that the Saviour of the world 
should be scourged in order that the prophecies of Scrip- 



360 JESUS CHRIST SCOURGED AT THE PILLAR 



ture might be fulfilled. If it be also written that no scourge 
shall dare come nigh to the tabernacle of His Humanity, 
this must be understood that no one should be able to make 
Him suffer by constraint, nor inflict one blow upon Him if 
He did not give His own free and spontaneous permission. 

This being explained, lift up thy eyes, my soul ! and 
behold how the Eternal Father speaks to Thee from 
on high and declares that He it is that punished His Son 
with so cruel a scourging, the executioners being only the 
instruments and ministers of His sovereign justice. Let 
us inquire the reason why so great severity was used toward 
the adorable person of His only-begotten Son. He will 
answer, by the Prophet, that it is all on account of the ex- 
treme hatred which He bears to sin. Let us also draw near 
to Jesus Christ, and say to Him : Dear Son of God ! what 
evil hast Thou done to merit a punishment so excruciating 
and so shameful? Our own conscience will answer us at 
once that He is innocent. It is we that have sinned. 
Therefore, for us He takes upon Himself so severe a pun- 
ishment, to make us ]earn from what He suffers that the 
exceeding great evil of sin is beyond comprehension. 

sin, how great an evil it is, since for it the Incarnate 
Son of God does penance so rigorous! Is it possible to 
contemplate that most sacred flesh mangled with scourges, 
covered with wounds, and not exclaim with feelings of 
horror : what an evil, what an immense evil is sin ! 
Again, is it possible to learn the nature of this evil, from 
the scourging of Jesus Christ, and not be moved to do 
penance for it with Him and after His example ? Hearken, 
my soul! to the voice of thy Lord, who speaks to thee 
from the pillar, as He formerly spoke to the people of 
Israel from the pillar of the cloud, and who preaches pen- 
ance to Thee with as many mouths as He has wounds on 
His body. 

my Jesus ! I hear Thee, but at the very name of pen- 
ance nature is alarmed and sense revolts. Ah, teach me, I 
beseech Thee, to know the necessity I have of this virtue, 
in order to cooperate with Thy Passion and to make myself 



JESUS CHRIST SCOURGED AT TEE PILLAR 361 



worthy of the remission of my sins. Give me courage, give 
me strength. I had courage to be a sinner, I have not cour- 
age to be a penitent. I pray Thee by all those scourges 
steeped in Thy blood, which I kiss and adore; I implore 
Thee by that generous charity, with which Thou didst en- 
dure them; instil into me an ardent love for suffering, so 
that as I have employed my soul and my body in sin, I may 
also employ my soul and my body in penance, thus to offer 
the best satisfaction I can to Thy injured Majesty. 

VIII. Although Jesus Christ was pleased to suffer for 
the sins of every description that we have committed, we 
must yet say that He was thus torn by scourges in His 
flesh especially to purge away uncleanness of the flesh. In 
chastisement for the sins of the flesh God had already sent 
two deluges, — one of water, another of fire ; now, behold in 
what manner He also sends a deluge of blows on the back 
of His most innocent Son solely because He sees Him 
clothed with flesh like ours, which is infected and corrupted 
by sin ! Therefore, can we consider sins of the flesh as a 
light evil? 

Let us seriously weigh this point. How must the angels 
be astonished to see the Incarnate Word doing such horrible 
penance in His immaculate flesh for the foul sins com- 
mitted by us in our flesh? How much more astonished 
ought we to be to know that a God is so scourged and 
mangled in His human nature for our carnal sins? Al- 
though not God, but only the flesh united with God, suffers, 
the pain of the flesh still redounds on God Himself. How 
great an evil, then, must be the sin of impurity, since it is 
punished with so great severity in the most pure flesh of a 
God? How deadly must be the wounds of sense, since 
there is no balsam to heal them but the blood issuing from 
the wounds of a Man-God? 

Eternal Father ! I behold the grievousness of my sins 
in the scourging of Thy dear Son. What can I offer Thee 
in satisfaction but the wounds and the blood of this same 
Son? For the iniquities of my sinful flesh I present to 
Thee the merits of His most holy flesh. If my insolent 



362 JESlti CHRIST SCOURGED AT THE PILLAR 



flesh has provoked Thy wrath, let the humbled flesh of 
J esus appease Thee and incline Thee to have mercy on me. 

J esus, Lover of chastity, ardent Lover of chaste souls ! 
I repent for having thus mangled Thee by my impurities. 
I implore of Thee the grace of pardon for the past and help 
for the future, that I may never more offend Thee. Re- 
move from me the occasions of sin, strengthen me to con- 
quer temptations and my disorderly passions. Extinguish 
in me the desires of the flesh, and grant me that holy spirit 
by which I may be restrained from ever again offending 
against chastity, but, on the contrary, may love and guard 
it with all possible jealousy. And since I can neither 
separate myself from my body, nor my body from myself, 
as I am obliged to nourish it ; and, since the more I nourish 
it, the more rebellious it becomes, I recommend to Thee all 
my senses, interior and exterior, that Thou mayest safe- 
guard them by Thy power and that I may be preserved from 
danger for Thy glory. 

In order to guard my chastity I shall resolve to observe 
modesty, especially of my eyes, through which may enter 
pleasing images calculated to awaken impure desires. 

IX. After having several times relieved one another, 
these executioners at last break down from fatigue, so that 
they unloose Jesus Christ from the pillar, and He, totally 
deprived of strength, scourged from head to foot, through 
extremity of weakness falls into the pool of His own blood 
that surrounds Him. Whom would He not move to com- 
passion in this wretched condition? Yet, the merciless 
Jews, remembering that it is written in the Law that a 
culprit should be stretched on the ground to be scourged, 
moved with furious zeal, gather new strength and turn 
again to beating Him cruelly. Who are they that break out 
thus savagely upon One who is almost dead? miscreant 
Jews, how execrable are you in your diabolical rage ! But 
how much more is the blessed Jesus to be pitied and imi- 
tated in His painful sufferings ! 

Behold, my soul! how He lies upon the ground, not 
having breath left in Him to move. Now it is that the 



JESUB CHRIST SCOURGED AT THE PILLAR 363 



loving Saviour washes thee from all thy sins with that 
blood in which He is bathed. Now it is that He makes of 
this same blood a most precious' ointment to dress thy 
putrid sores. Now He frees thee from all thy scourges, 
temporal and eternal, and by His fresh wounds opens to 
thee fresh fountains of grace. 

J esus most lovely, J esus most loving ! I figure to my- 
self this Thy blood, which I see on the ground all around 
me, as having fallen upon me ; and if, hitherto, I was earth- 
cursed in Adam through sin, I look on myself now as earth- 
blessed and redeemed from the curse by Thy blood. 
happy me ! Be my sins ever so numerous, ever so grievous, 
the merciful Passion through which Thou hast been pleased 
to redeem me is more abundant and greater, and for it I 
return Thee heartfelt thanks. 

1 compassionate Thee, my Eedeemer! in Thy suffer- 
ings. If I could, by any refreshment, mitigate the bitter- 
ness of Thy pains, I certainly would not fail to do it. But 
what can I do? Poor Lazarus, mentioned in the Gospel, 
at least had the dogs to come and lick his sores. Thou hast 
not even a dog. Permit me, then, I beseech Thee, my 
J esus ! to approach Thee in spirit, and like a dog to lick 
Thy sores with my tongue and extract from them the 
blessed liquor that may fill my heart with love for Thee. If 
I am unworthy to love Thee, Thou art most worthy to be 
loved, and it is the grace of this love that I hope for as a 
most sweet fruit of Thy bitter Passion. 

In token of gratitude to Jesus for His blood shed for 
me, I shall offer with pious affections of my heart at least 
one tear, either of compassion or of love for Him, or of 
sorrow for my sins. 

X. Jesus loves that we should, when meditating on His 
Passion, remember His most holy Mother as having always 
been His companion in sufferings and as having suffered 
in her heart all that which He suffered in His body, co- 
operating with Him by a special privilege in giving efficacy 
to the Eedemption of the world. Kepresenting her, then, 
to ourselves, according to what may be piously believed, as 



364 JE8U8 CHRIST SCOURGED AT THE PILLAR 



present at the scourging of her Son, as hearing the hissing 
of the strokes, and seeing all the laceration of that most 
delicate and most innocent flesh, what pains, what groans, 
what sighs, what fainting may we suppose to have been 
hers? 

Let us remark the countenance of Mary : how clouded is 
the serenity of her brow; how on her cheeks, on her lips, 
nothing can be seen but the paleness and horror of agony 
and death. Let us enter in thought within and contemplate 
her heart. How is it occupied ? How fares it ? Or, rather, 
where is it? In place of her heart nothing is to be seen 
but mockeries, scourges, wounds, — all is transformed into 
the Passion of her Son. As in it are united all the wounds 
that are spread from head to foot over the body of her Son, 
there is nothing there but a combination of wounds, or one 
wound composed of many wounds. 

With sobs of compassion and with a voice which is un- 
derstood only between Mother and Child : " Dear Son ! " 
says she, " where is Thy beauty ? Where the loveliness of 
Thy face ? Ah, wherefore, can not I feel those strokes with 
Thee in my body, as I do interiorly in my soul? im- 
mense charity! I adore those scourges and ignominies, 
which Thou so lovingly sufferest for the salvation of souls." 
Thus speaking, while she offers to the Eternal Father for 
us all that J esus suffers in His body, she offers for us like- 
wise all that she suffers in her soul. 

Praise and thanksgiving be to thy love, Mary! I 
truly must acknowledge, as my only Eedeemer, Jesus the 
Son of God and thy Son; but, without prejudice to the 
glory of thy Son, I acknowledge thee also as His faithful 
assistant in giving effect to the Eedemption. Mother 
of God and my most loving Mother! I sympathize with 
thee in the sorrow which thou endurest for me, and I pray 
thee to engrave on my heart one, at least, of thy wounds, 
that self-love may die in me and the love of God may ever 
live in me. By those tears of compassion that thou didst 
shed in the scourging of Jesus Christ, obtain for me tears 
of contrition to weep bitterly over my sins. 



JESUS CHRIST CROWNED WITH THORNS 365 



Mother of Mercy, have mercy on me! 

By the union of the Passion of Jesus Christ with the 
intercession of Mary is formed a most efficacious means for 
obtaining every grace from the divine Majesty. Of this 
means I shall avail myself in all my necessities. 



CHAPTEB L. 

JESUS CHRIST CROWNED WITH THORN'S. 

I. The scourging over, the executioners rest after their 
fatigue, but to J esus Christ is not offered a single moment 
of peace. Lying on the ground, covered with blood, and 
having to put His clothes on again, there is no one to give 
them to Him nor to offer Him a hand to assist Him to rise 
again to His feet, so that He is obliged to crawl on His 
hands and knees to look for them. First one, and then 
another, drives Him on with blows and kicks ; — all appear 
more brutal in proportion as He is more meek. What con- 
fusion and what pain meanwhile to the blessed Jesus to be 
thus naked, with so many sores, in weather so cold, as the 
Gospel remarks! But oh! with what patience does He 
suffer all, the true Lamb of God! without opening His 
mouth. On the one side, He knows that He is worthy of 
reverence and honor ; on the other, beholding Himself thus 
overwhelmed with outrages, He humbles and resigns Him- 
self to His Eternal Father. 

No sooner had He put on His clothes than the impious 
wretches, recollecting that He had been accused of desiring 
to make Himself king, go in haste to Pilate and ask leave 
to set Him up as a mock king and to have a comic enter- 
tainment. Therefore, they lead Him into the hall of the 
Praetorium, and calling together all the soldiery to see the 
'farce and render Him more ridiculous, they make ready 
for the hateful spectacle of the true Son of God, the King 
of kings, the Lord of Heaven and earth, shown off as a 
sham king. Amid all the insults cast upon Jesus, let us 



366 JESUS CHRIST CROWNED WITH THORNS 

ever remember, my soul, that He is God ; and being God, 
what is it that urges Him to endure such pains and igno- 
minies except love? Love, I will add, which He bears to 
me individually. 

But how is this possible, my God! since in myself, 
miserable sinner, I discover nothing for which Thou 
shouldst love me. There are in me, on the contrary, many 
odious qualities that might force Thee to hate me. How 
is this possible? Still it is true, most true, that Thou 
hast loved me, and lovest me with a love sincere, constant, 
and proved by the test of a prodigious patience. Ah ! that 
Thou shouldst love the innocent and the just I can easily 
comprehend; but that Thou shouldst love me, who am a 
sink of iniquity and vice, how can I believe this ? Neverthe- 
less I ought to believe it, and I do firmly believe it, for it 
is true. 

Yes, my Saviour ! I believe that Thou lovest me, and 
because Thou lovest me I approach Thee with confidence to 
implore Thee, in the first place, to forgive me my sins ; and, 
then, so to reform the tenor of my life according to Thy 
good pleasure that Thou mayest have reason to love me, 
and that I, pleasing Thee more and more, may be encour- 
aged to love Thee in return for all ages without end. 
Whom shall I love if I love not Thee, who art infinitely 
deserving of love, especially of being loved by me who have 
infinite obligations to love Thee. 

Moreover, having made satisfaction for the evil we have 
committed, Jesus Christ has also merited for us the grace 
to do good. With this grace I shall cooperate, not only by 
never offending Him, but by pleasing Him with virtuous 
actions. 

II. The executioners are paid by the rulers of the 
Jews to torment Jesus Christ with every manner of strange 
invention, being moreover instigated and prompted by 
devils, and, as it were, possessed by infernal fury ; in order, 
it would seem, to demand a final proof of His invincible 
patience, they contrive a torment highly dishonorable and 
painful, never before inflicted or read or heard of. They 



JESUS CHRIST CROWNED WITH THORNS 367 

take a bundle of long, hard, and sharp thorns, made into a 
crown, and they put it on His head, to exhibit Him as king 
of ignominies and tribulations. 

Not one of His disciples is present at this exhibition so 
sad, so unworthy, — of His crowning with thorns. Divine 
Providence had thus ordained it most mercifully. For if 
they were in danger of losing their Faith when they beheld 
their divine Master apprehended in the garden, what danger 
would they have been in had they seen Him crowned with 
thorns and treated as a false king amid so much ridicule 
and mockery, — more than could be imagined by any one? 

But thou, my soul ! who hast been fortified by the power 
of the Holy Ghost in the Sacraments, attentively contem- 
plate the blessed J esus in this pitiful condition, and believe 
that He is so much the more deserving of being honored 
and loved as He is shamefully dishonored for thee. Expe- 
rience within thee a small proportion, at least, of His pains 
and afflictions, and if thou canst do nothing more, make acts 
of amazement and terror on reflecting who it is that suffers. 

Cast a glance at the height of heaven, contemplating the 
immense greatness of the infinite Majesty of God, the 
Creator of all things, who with one stroke of His omnipo- 
tence can annihilate the whole world. what goodness, 
what beauty, what wisdom, what glory is His ! Take an- 
other glance at Jesus, and behold that this Man so suffering, 
so debased, is the same great God and Lord of the universe. 
Marvel, and be astounded at the thought, that in the same 
person there should appear so many contradictions, and 
also how strangely in this case mercy is united to justice. 

my God, how terrible are Thy works ! Terrible to me 
is the work of justice in the Passion, because if sin has 
been punished with so great severity in Thy most innocent 
Humanity, what punishment will not be inflicted upon me, 
a most wicked sinner ? Terrible likewise to me is the work 
of Thy mercy. For what shall become of me if I do not 
avail myself of the many graces that Thou hast merited 
for me? Make me, my God! fear Thy justice and also 
Thy mercy, so that I may never abuse them. 



368 JESUS CHRIST CROWNED WITH THORNS 



I shall moderate my fear with acts of hope, humbling 
myself to ask of the divine Majesty seasonable helps to co- 
operate with the Passion of J esus Christ by sincere repent- 
ance for my sins. 

III. After these wretches had crowned Jesus Christ with 
thorns they make Him sit upon a stool, and they arrange 
the crown upon Him in such a way that it encloses and 
presses on every part of His forebrow and head. Then, 
with sticks and their arms, they force it down so violently 
on His head that the thickest thorns, with a thousand 
punctures, enter the skull, and several penetrate so far as to 
wound even the tender brain. But there being about the 
head a number of nerves and veins that directly communi- 
cate with the heart, and the sense of feeling being most 
acute in the head as well as in the heart, what convulsions 
must He have endured, caused by such sharp and multitu- 
dinous pains? 

my soul ! behold thy Lord Jesus Christ with His head 
encircled by that hedge of thorns, and invite thy faculties 
to exclaim, with accents of astonishment and compassion: 
patience! innocence! Patience incomparable, inno- 
cence unspeakable ! But after having marveled and sympa- 
thized, let us proceed to the contemplation of the mystery. 
What are these thorns but our sins? Thorns are a conse- 
quence of the curse fulminated by God against the sin of 
Adam, and it is a fact that in the conscience of one who 
sins there always spring sharp, piercing thorns. Again, 
what did Jesus intend by submitting to the puncture of so 
many thorns but to take upon Himself our sins and the 
penalty due to us ? 

Jesus, true Lily among thorns, Lily of most spotless 
purity amid the thorns of most horrible iniquities ! I 
would have vented my indignation on the Jews, as though 
these thorns were the product of their ungrateful vine- 
yard ; but they are the fruits that the vineyard of my soul 
has borne. Oh ! that this were not the truth, as indeed it is 
too palpable that my sins prick Thee, pierce Thee, pain 
Thee more than all the thorns with which the Jews 



JESUS CHRIST CROWNED WITH THORNS 369 



wounded Thee. My head is filled with vain-glory. 
Through a silly conceit I have of myself, through a foolish 
longing I have to be highly esteemed by others also, I have 
hitherto done nothing but crown my own pride with perish- 
able flowers. On account of this Thou art crowned with a 
penitential crown of thorns; and I, beyond all others, am 
the actual cause of Thy pangs. 

most loving Saviour ! grant, I beseech Thee, that those 
identical thorns may sting and pierce and thoroughly pene- 
trate my heart with profitable sentiments of penance. 
Nothing but penance can cancel the enormities which I 
have perpetrated; and this penance being the most neces- 
sary virtue for so infamous a sinner as I am, it is this I 
desire, and which I implore Thee to grant me, through the 
most excruciating pains that Thou didst endure in Thy 
crowning with thorns. Without penance I shall not save 
my soul, and without Thy assistance I shall never be truly 
penitent. 

If it is irksome to me to live the life of a penitent, I will 
reflect that I should not have lived like a sinner. I have 
sinned by pride. For my penance I shall wear on my head 
the sackcloth of humility through the mean opinion I ought 
to entertain of myself. 

IV. Jesus Christ remaining, after His most cruel 
scourging, all covered with sores on His shoulders, His 
breast, His arms, His thighs and limbs, it seems that His 
head alone is sound. It is now that, in addition to its 
having been mutilated with cuffs, slaps, and blows, He is 
crowned with thorns in order that we may see the prophecy 
verified, which says, that from the crown of the head to the 
sole of the foot there is not a spot in His most sacred body 
that is not covered with wounds. 1 

Contemplate, my soul ! thy most afflicted Saviour, and 
behold that from the numerous wounds on His head a 
shower of blood issues forth, which, running down in 
streams over His face, disfigures all His features. Nothing 
can be seen but blood, and what blood is this? It is the 

( l ) Isaias i, 6. 



3?0 JESUS CHRIST CROWNED WITH THORN 8 



blood of a Man-God, shed by Him, not through violence or 
necessity, but by His own most loving will. It is blood 
from the wounds of His head, pierced by thy sins, and 
manipulated like a balmy ointment to heal thee of thy 
gangrened and mortal wounds. 

Ah, my Jesus, my God! Thy blood falls not on the 
ground, it all falls on me. If all this blood is not sufficient 
to heal and cleanse me from my evil habits and vicious 
affections, what must I say or judge of myself except that 
my sinfulness is execrable? my detestable wickedness! 
Instead of profiting by Thy blood for my amendment, I 
have hitherto done nothing, and still, from day to day, do 
nothing but add wound to wound, sin to sin, upon Thee 
and upon my own soul. 

But do I not reflect that for every sorrow of Thine and 
for the least drop of Thy blood I shall have to render Thee 
a most strict account? I live a thoughtless, idle life in a 
state of lukewarm negligence ; and, meanwhile, that fearful 
day is drawing near on which I shall weep and despair, 
because whichever way I shall turn I shall find neither 
mercy nor compassion. Ah, good Jesus ! with my face in 
the dust, humbled, contrite and prostrate at Thy feet, I beg 
Thy mercy through the merits of that most precious blood 
with which Thou hast redeemed me. Hear the voice of 
Thy blood, which now cries mercy for me ! May it never be 
that the same blood shall raise its voice against me and 
cry justice ! Miserere mei, Beus, secundum magnam mis- 
ericordiam tuam. 1 

I shall frequently remember that the most formidable 
object for me on the Day of Judgment will be to see that, 
on the one hand, I have greatly cooperated in making J esus 
Christ suffer; and, on the other, that I have cooperated 
little or not at all with His merits. 

V. While we contemplate Jesus Christ covered with all 
these wounds, and with all this blood, let us reflect well 
who is this Sufferer so despised and so afflicted. He is the 
true Son of God, who, crowned with honor and glory, is 

0) Ps. 1 , 1. 



JESUS CHRIST CROWNED WITH THORNS 371 



appointed by His Eternal Father Monarch of the universe ; 
the true Son of man, who, crowned by the Virgin Mary 
with the crown of our humanity, shall also be crowned by 
the angels on the Day of Judgment with crowns of justice. 
He it is who is now crowned by the perfidious synagogue 
with a crown of thorns, a crown of pain and ignominy. 

Go forth, my soul, with the daughters of Sion, to see thy 
King in this condition, — the true King of glory, because 
He is the Lord of virtues, Dominus virtutum. Thus, by 
His patience and humility, has He triumphed over the 
pride of the world, and He has been pleased to give us les- 
sons of all the virtues by enduring all manner of pains and 
reproaches. In short, this is the lesson that He teaches us 
in the crowning with thorns: that the royal road that 
conducts to heaven is narrow, wearisome, and thorny. As 
there is no other way to arrive at eternal salvation except 
this very Jesus, behold in Jesus how our way is beset with 
thorns, and likewise behold what our life must be in imita- 
tion of the Saviour if we would be saved. 

I deceive myself if I imagine I can wear a crown of 
roses amid the pleasures and pastimes of the world, and 
afterward be crowned again with glory in Paradise. For 
if even Jesus Christ, the Man-God, has had to enter into 
glory through sufferings, crowned with thorns, how shall I 
be able to enter therein crowned with flowers, leading an 
easy, luxurious life, granting every indulgence to my body 
and practising no kind of mortifications. Either here, or 
hereafter, we must endure the thorns. He that refuses 
here the thorns of penance and mortification, shall here- 
after have the thorns of torments and the worm that never 
dies. This is an infallible truth. What, therefore, re- 
mains to me, except to examine myself and repent of the 
wilful self-deceit in which I have hitherto lived, and to 
determine on another and a different line of conduct ? 

Ah, my Jesus ! who dost crown Thy elect with mercies, I 
thank Thee for Thy mercy, with which Thou hast now the 
goodness to enlighten me. I know that, to rejoice in eter- 
nity, I must suffer in time. Therefore, I implore Thee to 



372 JESUS CHRIST CROWNED WITH THORNS 

moderate in me the disorderly inclination that I have to 
gratify my passions. Give me love, constancy, and strength 
to suffer amid delights. I choose mortification in order to 
resemble Thee, as it is too great a shame for me to treat 
myself with delicacy while Thou art crowned with thorns. 
In order to render mortification easy I ask Thee, through 
Thy thorns, for the spirit of compunction. 

On all occasions when some suffering comes in my way, 
whether by necessity or by choice, when I would mortify 
myself in some sense or fancy, I shall figure to myself 
Jesus Christ offering me one of His thorns. dear and 
precious thorn ! 

VI. There is no stage in the Passion of Jesus Christ 
without a mystery, for since it was ordained in a general 
way for the remission of all our sins, we may say it was 
especially directed for the atonement of each particular sin. 
There is no part of our body with which we do not sin, and 
there is no part of the body of Jesus Christ that did not 
suffer a pain peculiar to itself. Thus, as in the head are 
formed sinful thoughts, we must understand that for those, 
in a special way, was He pleased to submit to the crowning 
with thorns. 

If I could enumerate the sins committed by me in 
thought what horror would not this monstrous, overwhelm- 
ing, calculation occasion me ! How often have I formed 
in my head chimerical ideas of earthly greatness, vain 
or profane imaginations, obscene and mischievous idle 
thoughts destined to nourish vicious concupiscences ? How 
often have I given entrance into my head to the flesh, the 
world, the devil, with their wicked suggestions? I knew 
that every evil thought was forbidden me by the divine 
Majesty under pain of severe punishment, and yet how 
often have I fixed my mind on every species of evil thought 
with actual malice, employing my very power of rational 
life to sin mortally ? 

Behold the fruit of my sins on the head of my Saviour ! 
See with what a quantity of thorns the divine Word is 
stifled on my account ! With how many thorns is transfixed 



JESUS CHRIST MOCKED AS A FALSE KING 373 

that sacred head which the Eternal Father crowned with 
flowers of sanctity ! Ah, my J esus ! I can not behold Thee 
without being filled with confusion, as I can not see on 
Thy head a single thorn that is not mine. But what avails 
confusion, if I do not also excite myself to sorrow and 
penance? I am grieved. I repent of all the sins, my 
God ! that I have committed in thought. Above all, I am 
displeased at them, not so much for the evil that I have 
done to myself, exposing myself to the rigors of Thy justice, 
as for that which I have done to Thee, by inflicting so 
many wounds on Thee. Pity, mercy, pardon! In order 
that I may never again offend Thee, grant me one of those 
efficacious graces which Thou hast merited for me by the 
wound of that thorn which has pierced Thee most deeply. 

Give me understanding, reason, a mind, that may think 
of and hearken to nothing but Thee. Give me such a spirit 
of chastity and continence that I may shun every evil 
thought as hell itself. In a word, give me Thy love. There 
is nothing more powerful for vigorously resisting thoughts 
of anger, envy, ambition, and any 'others that may be 
caused by carnal or infernal malice. If I possess Thy love, 
how shall I be able any longer to dwell on things displeas- 
ing to Thee ? How shall I not always think of those things 
alone that tend to Thy glory? 

I shall remember the wounds of J esus Christ as a remedy 
against bad thoughts. When the mind is occupied with 
good thoughts, evil thoughts have no power over it. 



CHAPTER LI. 

JESUS CHRIST MOCKED AS A FALSE KING. 

I. Pilate is aware of the shameful treatment endured 
by Jesus Christ. He is silent, and allows all in order to 
gratify the Jews, imagining that they will at length be ap- 
peased and desist from furiously insisting upon His death. 
Put they are more enraged than ever, through their firm 



374 JESUS CHRIST MOCKED AS A FALSE KING 

conviction that He had aspired to become king of Israel. 
Therefore they delight in making game of Him, and amuse 
themselves in mocking and insulting Him as a ridiculous, 
sham king. 

Having, then, placed on His head, as a diadem, the crown 
of thorns, they throw about Him, as a royal mantle, a piece 
of purple cloth, old, tattered and mean, so that He may 
appear the more contemptible beneath this semblance of 
majesty. 

The Prophets had foretold this insulting degradation 
which the Saviour of the world was to endure, when He 
should be covered with excessive shame from head to foot, 
— so great that it may be readily believed that the devil was 
the instigator of it. But oh, how completely has the king 
of the proud, by this very means, been discomfited and put 
to confusion by the King of the humble! The devil has 
done his utmost to bring upon Jesus Christ dishonor and 
abjection, but all that his malice could invent has served 
for nought, except for the advancement of humility and for 
our eternal salvation. In Jesus Christ nothing is useless. 
It is not His Humanity only which is humbled, but the 
humiliation redounds even upon His Divinity. And it is 
by the humility of this Man-God that we are redeemed from 
the slavery of sin and from the slavery of hell. 

However, if I am not humble what shall I gain, my 
God ! by all Thy humility and all Thy humiliation ? Have 
I not reason to be terrified when I contemplate Thee, who, 
clothed with the dignity of the Son of God, true King of 
heaven and of earth, endurest with so much forbearance 
and calmness to be treated as a false king and to make so 
contemptible a figure, and then, look upon myself, who, 
being a wretched worm, a handful of dust, a nothing, have 
not learned as yet, by Thy example, to make one genuine 
act of humility ? 

Why is there in me so much repugnance, so much re- 
luctance to suffer a w rong, a slight rudeness, a disrespect- 
ful word ? The obstacle that prevents my practising humil- 
ity is my pride alone. And is it possible that at the sight 



JESUS CHRIST MOCKED AS A FALSE KING 375 

of a God thus humbled I should not learn to be humble? 
my Jesus, would that I could understand what Thou 
sayest to me by Thy silence ! Make me realize the obliga- 
tion I am under to imitate Thee. Impress on me an ex- 
alted idea of what Thou hast suffered for me, and I shall 
account as sweet all that shall fall to my lot to suffer for 
Thee. 

After having read or meditated on the Passion of Jesus 
Christ, I too soon forget it all. Therefore, I shall fix in 
my mind at least His silent humility, which it is so evident- 
ly my duty to imitate. 

II. In reading the Passion of Jesus Christ, we ought 
not to confine our attention to the simple letter of the Gos- 
pel; we should enter more deeply and penetrate the sense 
of it. There are great mysteries contained in this purple 
with which the Saviour is arrayed. Choosing, then, what 
is applicable to ourselves: — as by the white garment that 
was put on Him in the house of Herod was symbolized His 
innocence, so by the red one with which He is now clothed 
in the Court of Pilate we see our sins represented, as we 
may gather from the Scripture. We should exclaim as we 
gaze upon it : Behold the Messiah, the Beloved of the Eter- 
nal Father! white and ruddy, clothed in His all-holy 
Humanity with fine linen and crimson cloth. 

Be horrified, my soul ! at seeing that spotless Man-God 
covered with so many iniquities and enormities, and reflect 
how much more thy wickedness oppresses, overwhelms and 
afflicts Him than the ignominy of that ragged mantle. 
Again considering that by the purple is moreover signified 
His inflamed charity, acknowledge how much thou art 
bound to love and thank Him in return. Is it possible that 
thy heart can still remain hard with this belief that a God, 
out of His infinite goodness, has been pleased to take upon 
Himself thy sins and to suffer for thee such innumerable 
woes? 

My God, how good Thou art, how merciful, how loving 
toward this Thy creature, the most unworthy and most un- 
grateful in the world! With immense charity Thou hast 



3?6 JESUS CHRI&T MOCKED AS A FALSE klNG 



taken on Thyself my sins in Thy crowning with thorns, 
and with the same crown of thorns Thou also hast atoned 
for them, meriting for me by it in addition a blessed crown 
of glory. Nevertheless, Thou hast again on another occa- 
sion taken on Thee my sins in that ragged, filthy garment, 
and with it Thou hast covered and remitted them, cutting 
out anew for me of that purple a garment of eternal salva- 
tion. unparalleled charity! To Thee be praises and 
everlasting blessings for Thy love! 

Never again shall I be mistrustful of the forgiveness of 
my sins, although I may never be able to satisfy for them 
by penance, being convinced, as I am, that Thy mercy in- 
finitely surpasses all my guilt. Beneath the mantle of Thy 
charity I seek shelter. In Thee, my Jesus! I trust; and, 
full of confidence, I ask no more that Thou wouldst give 
me long life or temporal prosperity. I ask Thee to bestow 
on me only Thy mercy, — more precious than all the lives of 
the world. Have mercy on me, and I shall be indebted to 
Thee forever, in time and in eternity, to endless ages. 

I shall correspond with the love of Jesus Christ, re- 
doubling acts of love toward Him, with a will resigned and 
disposed to choose whatever pleases Him, and to choose 
nothing that displeases Him. 

III. In order that Jesus Christ may be regarded as a 
false, mock king, after placing on His head as a diadem 
the crown of thorns and on His back the ragged purple for 
a robe, they also put in His hand, by way of sceptre, a com- 
mon reed, to show either that He is a silly fool in making 
Himself king or that His kingdom is empty, without power 
or authority, since He can not defend Himself against all 
these outrages. He knows, because He knows Himself, the 
exceeding wrong that is inflicted on Him. Nevertheless He 
accepts this reed, and refuses no sorrow, no dishonor, but 
suffers those miscreants to do to Him all they please, with- 
out uttering a word or giving a sign of the affliction that 
oppresses Him. 

Here we have an evident proof of the truth of what He 
said a while ago, that His kingdom is not of this world. 



JESUS CHRIST MOCKED AS A FALSE KING 377 



That is, that it is not a kingdom obtained by riches or by 
force of arms, but by poverty, patience and abasement. Re- 
flect, my soul ! The kingdom of Jesus Christ is a kingdom 
of eternal glory ; see in Him an example of how it has to be 
conquered. Canst thou say to thyself, with a clear con- 
science, that thou art not far from this kingdom by the 
practice of these virtues ? In what degree have we poverty 
of spirit? In what degree patience? In what degree hu- 
mility ? 

I do not see in myself a single virtue that can be denomi- 
nated genuine virtue. How then dare I hope for the king- 
dom of heaven, which is won by virtue alone, by doing vio- 
lence to the passions and the senses? Every time that I 
repeat the Lord's Prayer, at the words, Adveniat regnum 
tuum, I pray the Lord to make me worthy of His blessed 
kingdom ; but in what manner do I afterward cooperate 
with Him to render my prayer efficacious? 

Ah, my J esus ! I am an empty, unstable reed, that per- 
mits itself to be carried away with every wind. I have good 
desires, and at times I make profitable resolutions ; but, do 
I keep them? When I appear 'to wish to do right, I sur- 
render by a guilty inconstancy to evil. merciful Saviour ! 
who didst take in Thy hand that ridiculous reed in order to 
fortify my frailty by Thy merits and fix my instability by 
Thy example, succor me with Thy help. 

The true cause of my inconstancy in virtue and the rea- 
son of my yielding to vice is because I rely upon myself, and 
do not realize that I am a weak, miserable reed. Impart to 
me, good Jesus ! a little of Thy humility ; and, speedily 
mistrusting myself, I shall rest on Thee alone, I shall con- 
fide in Thee alone, I shall fulfil my duties, and shall happily 
arrive at the possession of that sceptre of glory in the king- 
dom which Thou hast merited for me by the ignominy of 
the reed. 

From Jesus Christ, with the reed in His hand, I shall 
learn to count as vanity, as empty reeds, all the things of 
the world. Success, pleasures, honors, — all are vanity. I 
shall treat vanity as vanity, and I shall aspire to eternity. 



378 JESUS CHRIST MOCKED AS A FALSE KING 



IV. Jesus Christ being thus seated, wearing the crown 
of thorns and the purple mantle, with the reed in His hand, 
the soldiers endeavor in every way to insult Him to the 
utmost limits of the most insolent audacity. Having 
dressed Him as a mock king, they amuse themselves by 
making game of Him and laughing at Him, as a miserable 
man who has neither the desire nor the power to make him- 
self a king. One by one they pass before Him, each salut- 
ing Him and saying: Hail, king of the Jews! 1 Each one 
tries to outdo the others in pronouncing this salutation 
with the most extravagant grimaces. They glory at be- 
holding Him thus railed at and derided. What is now 
wanting to the full accomplishment of the predictions that 
He had made concerning Himself, in conformity with the 
Prophetic oracles? 

With the soldiers are also mingled the J ews. Let us take 
a view, in the first place, of these impious scoffers, full of 
hatred and rage; then of the blessed Jesus, who sits with 
downcast eyes, modest, peaceful, meek, willing to endure 
every affront. They know not what they say, nor what they 
do. Meanwhile, what mysteries are they not accomplishing 
for us ? They call Him King, with the malicious intention 
of reproachfully putting Him to shame; but, at the same 
time, they confess what He is and say the truth without 
perceiving it. 

Yes, my Jesus ! Thou art the King of Glory, — a King the 
most true, the most great, the most august of kings. Thou 
art the King and the Crown of Thine elect, my King and 
my God, and as such I acknowledge Thee, I proclaim Thee, 
I exalt Thee ! To Thee I offer my service and obedience., 
with the determined resolution of being wholly Thine for 
evermore. And since I do not trust my own resolution, 
which is too vacillating, with profound submission I make 
my humble appeal to Thee. I believe that Thou art able, 
and I hope that Thou art willing, so to strengthen my 
weakness that I may accomplish Thy will forever with 

(0 St. Matt, xxvii, 29. 



JESUS CHRIST MOCKED AS A FALSE KING 379 

fidelity and perseverance. So be it, then, as I earnestly 
implore of Thee ! 

divine King ! with all my heart I compassionate Thee 
in Thy deplorable condition, — so dishonored and ill-treated 
as sham king of the Jews. I console myself, and at the 
same time congratulate myself with Thee that Thou art 
venerated and magnified by the choir of angels as their 
sovereign King. God save Thee, my King! God save 
Thee! I intend this my reverential salutation to be re- 
peated a million of times. While saying, God save Thee! 
I also purpose to pray Thee to save my soul, my most merci- 
ful Saviour! 

1 shall reflect whether it be a resolution, or a half wish, 
that I have to be established in the divine grace. A real 
resolution humbles itself to pray to God, and avails itself 
of grace to do what it ought. 

V. The Jews remark to the soldiers that Jesus Christ 
has had the presumption to aspire not only to be kin£, 
but, moreover, Son of God. Wherefore they take occasion 
to mock Him on this point, and at the same time as they 
laugh at Him as a false king they add other insults. They 
genuflect before Him in all manner of unbecoming ways, 
making a pretence of adoring Him in order to make Him 
appear as a false God. The fools imagine that if He was 
God, or if He was king, He could and would defend Him- 
self ; and because He does not defend Himself, but remains 
silent, keeping His power concealed and allowing nothing 
but His patience to be seen, they continue to provoke Him 
more and more with contempt. 

What sayest thou, my soul ! on beholding that God, 
who in the Old Testament was called the God of Vengeance, 
the Lord of Hosts, the strong, the mighty Warrior, now 
taking delight in showing Himself the God of patience, 
feeling no resentment under a flood of affronts ? Shall we 
have any excuse for our anger, or any reason for being im- 
patient in tribulations and adversities, after beholding this 
example of our most patient Saviour? 

Again let us reflect on the fact. In the same way that 



380 JESUS CHRIST MOCKED AS A FALSE KING 

Caiphas condemned Jesus Christ, not knowing what he 
said, so now the soldiers adore Him blindly and ignorantly, 
not knowing what they do, — and we must add that their 
profanity is an instructive mystery for us. What was then 
done is now equally done by whoever believes Jesus Christ 
to be true God, and who does not observe His Evangelical 
law, as if it were a fabulous law of some false god or other. 
The same is done by whoever believes Jesus Christ to be 
the Sovereign Good, and prefers to Him any vile good of 
this world. 

How frequently, my Jesus ! have I, too, thus mocked 
Thee, acting wholly in opposition to what Thy Faith pre- 
scribed for me, pretending to pay Thee homage and ma- 
liciously offending Thee? I deplore my disloyalty and 
hypocrisy; and while I see Thy enemies kneeling before 
Thee in mockery, I prostrate myself in Thy presence, with 
a contrite and humble heart, to venerate Thee and sincerely 
adore Thee. No one, in the entire course of Thy Passion, 
has bent the knee to Thee except when Thou wast crowned 
with thorns, because it is amid thorns that Thou makest 
Thyself known as true God, prefigured to Moses in the 
burning bush. With all possible reverence, therefore, I 
adore Thee as my divine Saviour, and I entreat Thee to be a 
Saviour to me and to work out my eternal salvation. 

I shall renew acts of faith and hope, remembering that 
it is a dead faith and a dead hope that is not accompanied 
by good works. How do I live? What do I do for my 
eternal salvation? 

VI. After insulting words, fits of laughter, scornful 
jokes the most outrageous that could be uttered against a 
personage of such exalted dignity as was that of Our Lord 
Jesus Christ, they proceed to action. They surround 
Him ; some buffet Him, some spit on His face, not yet dry 
from the quantity of spittle already cast upon it; some 
remove the reed from His hand and strike His head, so that 
where it is soft the thorns are driven in deeper ; where it is 
hard, they are either broken or they exasperate the wound 
more and more, and cause most frightful convulsive pangs. 



JESUS CHRIST MOCKED AS A FALSE KING 3P1 



They devise every act of cruelty to torture Him, and no 
portion of His body remains unhurt. 

Who has given those men this savage ingenuity to dis- 
honor and torment, all at once, in ways so new and unheard- 
of, this innocent Victim, who has always been beneficent to 
every one. We may believe that devils were there, in troops, 
to fill those ministers with fury and to incite them to ex- 
traordinary bitterness. However this may be, it is certain 
that it was thus ordained by the wisdom and justice of God, 
in fulfilment of the Scriptures, that the ignominies of 
Jesus Christ should be so painful and His pains so igno- 
minious, that the exceeding hatred might be made known 
which the Eternal Father bears against sin, and likewise the 
exceeding love that His Incarnate Son bears to sinners. 

If any one could have beheld the condition of the soul of 
Jesus, oppressed by such ignominies and such sorrows, what 
a marvel would it have been to see combined in Him ex- 
ceeding sadness at our sins which occasioned Him such 
woes, and exceeding joy at the glory that He was giving to 
God, and for the salvation of souls for which He was labor- 
ing? He was afflicted at our iniquities on account of their 
immense hatefulness, and He rejoiced at the plentiful Re- 
demption of the human race. 

Impart to me, my Redeemer! that holy hatred that 
Thou dost entertain for sin, so that I may always feel both 
sorrow and horror at it. Impart to me, moreover, for 
charity's sake, Thy love, that I may love Thee with the same 
love with which I am loved. I desire to love Thee, but I 
know not whether I really love Thee. What must I do to 
make sure of having this love? Ah, my Jesus! I shall 
know that I love Thee when I shall strive to imitate Thee ; 
when, in order to obey and please Thee, I shall endeavor to 
mortify myself. With Thy assistance, I resolve to do this. 

I shall decide upon the mortifications that I resolve to 
practise; and I shall, in a special manner, undertake those 
of which I stand in the most need in order to work in my- 
self a reformation internal and external. 



382 JESUS SHOWN BY PILATE TO THE PEOPLE 
CHAPTEK LII. 

JESUS CHRIST SHOWN BY PILATE TO THE PEOPLE. 

I. Jesus Christ being in this wretched condition, all 
covered with sores and blood, and scantily clad, with 
little but the purple robe about Him, those tormentors 
bind fast His hands and in His hands they bind the reed. 
Then, throwing a cord around His neck, as if He were a 
beast, they lead Him from the court into the hall, all the 
while continuing their reproaches and jokes, to let Pilate 
see Him in this figure of a sham, mock king. It was not 
sufficient to have made a spectacle of Him to a company of 
soldiers, called together on purpose ; to increase His shame, 
they choose to make Him appear before the governor and 
the Roman nobility who are about the court. 

What confusion must it have been to Him to see Him- 
self in the midst of these people thus degraded ? Since the 
world has existed, we do not read of any malefactor being 
punished by tyrants or barbarians with such pains and 
ignominies as Our Lord Jesus Christ, who came, indeed, 
to make atonement for our sins, but who was Himself un- 
spotted and stainless, without the least blemish of sin of 
His own. There was nothing common or ordinary in His 
Passion; — be it pain, dishonor, all reaches the utmost ex- 
cess. However hard may be our heart, how can it fail to be 
touched with tenderness at the thought of the true Son of 
God thus humbled and reduced to such extremities ? 

But bear with me, my Lord! if with all reverence I 
ask Thee : If, in order to liberate our souls from sin and 
hell, sufferings so strange were necessary, why not send an 
angel or an archangel in Thy place? In Thy wounds I 
read Thy love, but mightest Thou not, at least, have had 
some other being to suffer for Thee ? Reflect, my soul. If 
an angel had redeemed us, our love would have been di- 
vided : a part given to God, our Creator, and the other part 
to the angel, our redeemer. But this was not becoming. 
Hence, that God who created us has been pleased also to 



JESUS SHOWN BY PILATE TO THE PEOPLE 383 

redeem us, in order that our heart might not be divided 
and our love might be consecrated wholly to Himself. 

Therefore, if Thou alone, my God! oughtest to be 
loved by me as my Creator and my Eedeemer, what lawless 
iniquity has been mine until now to love a most vile crea- 
ture more than Thee ? More than Thee to love myself, my 
own flesh, my own concupiscence, and so many other 
things? I have erred, and I repent. Henceforth I con- 
secrate to Thee my whole heart. I shall no longer live but 
for Thee. I shall love no one except Thee. I ought to be 
wholly Thine, because Thou hast created and redeemed me, 
and wholly Thine I will be. But ah, my Creator, my Ee- 
deemer! succor me with Thy efficacious helps. Do not 
abandon nor despise the work of Thy hands. 

I shall frequently make acts of love and sorrow. I shall 
be ashamed of my self-love, and I shall endeavor to make 
amends for my delinquencies, at least by humility, acknowl- 
edging myself good-for-nothing. 

II. Jesus Christ comes into the- presence of Pilate, the 
governor, dragged rather than led by the soldiery. Pilate 
no sooner sees Him, than he is horrified to behold Him so 
maltreated. Although he was a Gentile, he was of a mild 
and kindly disposition, quite contrary to the haughtiness 
of the Jews. Hence he is moved to compassion; and, de- 
sirous of liberating Him, whom he knows to be innocent, 
he resolves to show Him to the people, with the firm con- 
fidence that any one that sees Him, however great may be 
the rage and hatred that he feels against Him, will cer- 
tainly be appeased on beholding Him so severely punished 
and reduced to so wretched a state, — that, far from being 
like a king, He has not even the appearance of a man. 

Take one look at thy Lord, my soul, and reflect. Hast 
thou not reason to be confounded in comparing thyself with 
Pilate, who is moved to tenderness at the sight of the suf- 
fering Jesus, whilst thou art so hard, so destitute of pity 
and affection as to have no compassion for Him? Think- 
well that thou art bound to feel toward Him an exceeding 
love, since it is for thee that He suffers so much in His 



384 JESUS SHOWN BY PILATE TO THE PEOPLE 

body and in His soul. Thou art deeply indebted to Him 
for having created thee. But, oh ! how very much more for 
having thus redeemed thee! The creation of thyself and 
of the whole world was effected by two or three words from 
His mouth, but see at the cost of how much pain and how 
much blood He has wrought thy Kedemption! See how 
much greater are thy incalculable obligations to Him for 
this benefit than for all besides : that by His dishonor He 
has honored thee; by His bands He has set thee free; by 
His wounds He has made thee sound. 

Ah, my J esus ! I know and confess it. It is true that I 
am more indebted to Thee for the torments which Thou 
hast suffered to redeem me than for the omnipotent word 
by which Thou didst create me. If I owe all that I am to 
Thee, as my Creator, how much more do I owe Thee as my 
Redeemer? I owe to Thee all that I am and have. But 
what am I of myself, and what have I of my own, but noth- 
ing ? What I am and what I have of good is all Thine, 
my God ! Of myself I have nothing worth offering to Thee, 
even of what is Thine, without Thy aid. Ah, my Jesus ! 
take possession of that which is Thine in me ; and if I am 
all Thine, because Thou hast created and redeemed me, 
grant that I may be all Thine by virtue also of my imitat- 
ing and loving Thee. Behold my heart, which desires to 
love Thee, but with all its efforts can not do so. Strengthen 
it with Thy most holy grace. There is none but Thou who 
canst make of this heart of stone a son of Abraham. 

I shall take the three powers of my soul, and the five 
senses of my body, and make an offering of them to Jesus 
Christ as a token of love, to use them for the time to come 
only for His glory. 

III. With the intention of pacifying the enraged Jews, 
who had come in crowds before the palace to hear the result 
of the judgment, Pilate goes out upon the public balcony 
that he may expose Him to the gaze of all. " Behold," he 
says to them, " I present to you this Man, that seeing Him 
in His unhappy and pitiable state you may relent and 
mitigate your rage against Him, on my declaring to you 



JESUS SHOWN BY PILATE TO THE PEOPLE 385 

that He is absolutely innocent of crime and that there are 
no grounds for His condemnation/' By these words the 
governor accuses himself, as if repentant; and confessing 
that he had unjustly caused to be scourged that blessed 
Jesus, whom he acknowledged to be innocent, puts forth 
this strong and intelligible argument : That if Jesus Christ 
has been scourged unjustly, since He was innocent, it would 
be much more against justice to condemn Him to die. 
power of truth and innocence ! Satan, by the invention of 
new torments, may render Our Saviour's Passion to the last 
degree painful; but, with all his malice, he can not bring 
about that the honor of innocence should be taken away 
from Him who is innocent. 

I shall reflect upon myself, regarding myself as like to 
Pilate. Twice, within a short previous space, the unjust 
judge has declared Jesus Christ innocent, and yet he has 
condemned Him to be scourged. After the flagellation, he 
again confesses His innocence. Nevertheless, He will not 
refrain from condemning Him to death. Is not this pre- 
cisely what I am constantly doing ? Every time I approach 
the Sacrament of Penance I confess that God is the Sov- 
ereign Good, who does not deserve to be offended ; and yet, 
very soon after, I offend Him, making my life a vicious 
round of sins and Confessions. But of what use are these 
Confessions, except, like those of Pilate, to augment my 
malice and to increase the burden of my iniquities ? 

I repent and accuse myself of these Confessions, my 
God! I greatly fear they have been badly made, since I 
have never applied myself in earnest to amendment. One 
effect of Thy Passion is, that the sinner receives the pardon 
of his sins when he is truly penitent. How many times, 
then, have I abused Thy Passion by approaching Confes- 
sion unworthily ? Mercy, my God ; and oh, by Thy grace, 
assist me to repair my defects and to supply for them. It 
is impossible that one who has sinned should be reconciled 
to Thee without that sincere repentance that brings with 
it amendment. 

I shall examine myself on my bad habits, that I may 



386 JESUS SHOWN BY PILATE TO THE PEOPLE 



study to correct them. Amendment gives the best ground 
for hope that we have obtained pardon in Confession 
through the mercy of God. 

IV. Pilate, seeing that however much he may say in 
favor of J esus Christ it profits nothing, — nay, that a noisy 
murmur is beginning to arise amongst the crowd, — turns 
toward the same Lord and makes Him advance to the mid- 
dle of the balcony so that all may see Him thus crowned 
with thorns, with the reed in His hand and the purple gar- 
ment on His shoulders, and that from the shocking treat- 
ment He has received every one may comprehend that the 
innocent Man has been already too severely punished. 

We may imagine what shame and confusion it must be 
to the Lord of Glory, and Monarch of the Universe, to see 
Himself in so opprobrious a condition in the presence of 
such a multitude of people! His humility is not under- 
stood, because His greatness is not understood. Let us 
always remember His Divinity in meditating on the igno- 
miny that His Humanity suffers. He who now exposes 
Himself in the character of a mock king is the Man-God. 
And, as the power of God in the working of miracles has 
redounded to the honor and glory of the Humanity, so the 
abjection of the Man beneath the scoffs and insults that 
are offered to Him redounds to the contempt of God. But 
why has that God, who is the wisdom of the Father and who 
never does anything in vain, willed to humble Himself 
thus? Behold the reason: God has humbled Himself in 
this manner that man may be exalted. Who, then, will re- 
fuse to humble himself for the love of God after God has 
thus humbled Himself for us ? Who will refuse to humble 
himself, animated by the hope of that eternal exaltation 
which J esus Christ has merited for us by His humiliations ?, 

Jesus, the highest of all and the most debased of all ! 
I return thanks again and again, as well as I know how 
and as much as I am able, to Thy infinite goodness. But 
what shall I say to render thanks for Thy humility? 
Whilst I behold Thee suffering this public dishonor with 
such meekness and patience, content to be the by-word and 



JE8CS SHOWN &Y PILATE TO TEE PEOPLE 387 

the reproach of the world, I feel myself, on the one hand, 
moved to compassion; but, on the other, filled also with 
confusion at seeing myself so far removed from the imita- 
tion of Thee. Oh, how humble Thou art ! And oh, how 
proud am I ! I yield to passion, and resent every word 
of contempt that is addressed to me. But do I intend to 
continue in this way until death? 

Ah, my most humble Saviour ! let this not be the case. I 
have motives for humbling myself in my body, which is a 
handful of mire; and I have still greater cause for hum- 
bling myself in my soul, which is a vessel of malice and 
iniquity. But there is nothing more efficacious to make me 
humble than the example of Thy humility. I desire this 
virtue that I may become one with Thee and may please 
Thee, but I have not strength to practise it, because I know 
not how to do violence to myself in order to overcome my 
haughty self-love. I beg for those graces from Thee which 
Thou hast merited for me by Thy humility in suffering so 
much confusion and ignominy. Thou, who dost assist me 
to pray to Thee, help me also to imitate Thee. 

I shall reflect on what occasions and in what things I 
desire most to be esteemed and honored, and in these I shall 
mortify myself for the love of Jesus Christ by doing vio- 
lence to myself. 

V. Our Lord Jesus Christ being thus, to His unspeak- 
able confusion, exposed to the eyes of His enemies, Pilate 
takes hold of the border of His purple garment to uncover 
Him so that every one may see Him lacerated by the 
scourges, wounded, bleeding, and so disfigured that He no 
longer appears to be a man. In thus showing Him 
forth he repeats only these words, Behold the Man! 1 He 
thinks this will suffice. Meaning to say : " If you fear that 
this Man will make Himself king, look at Him and see how 
He has been abused. In such a state, is He not more 
worthy to be compassionated by you than hated ? " 

Come, my soul, take a part in this spectacle and look at- 
tentively at thy Lord, how His head is crowned with 

(*) St. John xix, 5. 



388 JESUS SHOWN BY PILATE TO TEE PEOPLE 



thorns, His face livid, swollen, and denied with phlegm, 
how His hands are bound, His body all wounded and black- 
ened, as had already been foretold by the Prophets, — the 
most despised and afflicted of mankind, who has no longer 
even the semblance of man. Where is the comeliness of 
that divine countenance, which a short time previously 
ravished the eyes and the affections of every one? How 
has the most beautiful and most graceful of men become so 
unsightly and despised? 

Ah, my J esus ! it is Thy charity which caused Thee to 
assume human nature, that has also reduced Thee now to 
such a state of deformity. Nothing else than Thy love has 
brought Thee to a state wherein Thou excitest horror. But 
though Thou art so disfigured, nevertheless how beautiful 
Thou art in my eyes, for Thy deformities to me are orna- 
ments of spiritual beauty. Although Thou art in so pitiable 
a condition, nevertheless how strong and courageous Thou 
art in my behalf to work out my eternal salvation. 

Oh ! by that love which Thou hast had for my soul, even 
to suffer for it so bitter a Passion, impress upon me the 
high esteem in which I ought to hold that soul. It is worth 
more than the whole world, because it is worth Thy most 
precious blood, which is of infinite value. How then am I 
such an idiot as to prize it less than all that is in the world, 
— less than my own very flesh, which is corruption ? From 
the little care that I take of my soul Thou hast reason, 
my Saviour ! to reproach me that Thy blood is unfruitful 
for me. I am determined to be saved, and I shall infallibly 
be saved, to Thy glory, if I practise as I intend to do, and 
with Thy help as I hope to do, that humility and charity 
which have been taught me by Thy example. 

I shall adore Jesus Christ in His most sacred body, and 
especially in His head, which is the most tormented. I 
shall make acts of confidence in this Man-God, and I shall 
fortify myself in my resolution to imitate Him. 

VI. Whilst Pilate shows Jesus Christ to the Jews, say- 
ing to them, Behold the Man ! 1 to excite in them some feel- 

(i) St. John xix, 5. 



JESUS SHOWN BY PILATE TO THE PEOPLE 389 

ing of humanity, I shall represent to myself that the Eter- 
nal Father shows Him to me in the same manner and says 
to me, Behold the Man! Open, my soul, the eyes of thy 
mind to this vision, and the ears of thy heart to these words. 

" Behold," says the Father from on high, " Behold the 
Man 93 whom I have sent for thy salvation into the world, 
as a mark of that eternal charity with which I have loved 
thee. Till now I have sought, and have not found, one 
who would interpose himself for thee to appease my just 
anger. Now, " Behold the Man ! " not Man alone, but 
Man-God, the figure of My substance, who alone has power 
to be the Mediator to reconcile man with God. By sin thou 
wert exiled from Paradise and condemned to hell, and there 
was no one that could help thee. But, " Behold the Man ! " 
the Son of Man and My Son, destined to be thy Bedeemer, 
thy Saviour. " Behold the man ! " the Master of truth, the 
Model of sanctity, whom thou must imitate if thou desirest 
to be saved. 

best of fathers, Eternal Father ! how much am I 
indebted to Thee for having loved me to such a degree as 
to pour on Thy Son such a deluge of woes, which were all 
due to me ! most astounding charity ! I can not express 
the consolation that I feel interiorly in meditating on the 
excess of Thy love ! How is it possible that I am not filled 
with confusion for my perverse neglect of the example of 
this same Son of Thine? 

Oh, how humble and meek is this King of Glory amidst 
His ignominies ! How patient is this Man of Sorrows in 
His sufferings! How proud and haughty am I amid my 
miseries ; how much in love with vanities, how anxious for 
earthly comforts ! Ah, Eternal Father ! since Thou show- 
est me this Man, and commandest me to imitate Him, 
conquer my malice by Thy grace, that I may blot out in 
myself all the traces of the old earthly man and reform 
myself according to the likeness of this divine Man. 
Father and Bestower of lights ! here am I, with the confi- 
dence which Thou givest me, beseeching Thy clemency to 
enable me to imitate the virtues of Jesus and to reform 



390 JESUS SHOWN BY PILATE TO THE PEOPLE 

myself so completely in thoughts, words, and actions, that 
I may no longer be what I have been, but a new man ac- 
cording to Thy good pleasure. 

I shall constantly meditate on the virtues of Jesus Christ, 
in His abjection, with love, desire, and resolutions to imi- 
tate them, animating myself by reflecting on my obligations 
to obtain them if I would be saved. 

VII. As the Eternal Father exhibits to us Jesus Christ 
in the unhappy state in which Pilate presented Him to the 
J ews, to oblige us to compassionate and imitate Him, let us, 
also, my soul, imprint deeply on ourselves the idea of Jesus 
Christ in His disfigured form, and let us represent that 
form to the Eternal Father with the most affectionate 
energy of our hearts. 

God of Majesty, holy Father ! behold the Man begotten 
by Thee in the brightness of the saints, and sent into the 
world full of grace and truth. Thou showest Him to me 
that I may be moved to compassion for Him, and I show 
Him to Thee that Thou mayest be moved to have com- 
passion on me. Behold who He is that suffers. He is Thy 
most innocent and most beloved Son. Eemember for whom 
He suffers. It is for me, a most vile and wretched sinner. 
To induce Thee to have mercy on me I can place before 
Thee nothing sweeter, nothing stronger than Thy Son. 

Behold the Man — more than man, the Man-God, — who 
for me has deigned to subject Himself to cuffs, to bonds, to 
spitting, scourges and scoffs. This has been a work of in- 
effable mercy, and on that work I beg of Thee, Almighty 
Lord ! to fix the eyes of Thy Majesty. I have been able of 
myself to offend Thee, but of myself I have nothing where- 
by I can make satisfaction. Behold, then, the divine Man, 
my only Hope, who has abundantly satisfied for me. He 
it is, omnipotent Father ! whom I present to Thee, and 
can I present anything more precious or more dear to 
Thee? 

My sins are grievous, exceedingly grievous; but, when 
placed in the scales with the merits of Jesus Christ, how 
incomparably does the grace of the Redeemer outweigh the 



JESUS SHOWN BY PILATE TO THE PEOPLE 391 



malice of the sinner ! I place against my pride the humility 
of Jesus; against my impatience, the patience of Jesus; 
against my anger, the meekness of J esus ; against my aver- 
sion and ill-will, the charity and sweetness of Jesus; 
against my sloth and tepidity, His fervor. For the sins 
that I have committed with the powers of my soul, I offer 
the afflicted and humbled soul of Jesus; for the sins com- 
mitted by the senses of my body, I offer the wounded, 
suffering body of Jesus. Look upon the sacred Humanity 
of Jesus; this suffices to console me, with the confidence 
that my iniquities will be pardoned by Thy clemency. 

I shall also say to the Holy Ghost, Behold the Man ! for 
whom Jesus Christ has sacrificed Himself in His Passion. 
I shall ask of Him the spirit of penance, to make me worthy 
of His mercy. 

VIII. In meditating on the Passion of Jesus Christ we 
must not separate fear from hope. Therefore, considering 
His confusion at the moment in which Pilate shows Him so 
disfigured and bruised to an immense crowd, saying, "Be- 
hold the Man!" this is an image of what will take place 
at the Last Judgment, when this Man-God, now so abject, 
appearing in the majesty of Judge, shall make an exhibi- 
tion of me in the presence of the whole world. 

" Behold the man ! " it will be said of me, exposed to the 
eyes of all the angels and all men. " Behold the man ! " 
who has been attached to vanity and neglectful of God! 
The man, fallen from the condition of man, and become 
like the beasts in the fury of his brutal appetites. " Behold 
the man," it will be said, and at the same moment will be 
discovered before all every one of my sins in thought, word, 
and deed. What shall I say ? How shall I answer the re- 
proaches which my own conscience will make me ? Full of 
shame, confused and trembling, I shall stand before Thee, 
my Judge ! and shall not be able to utter a word in my 
defence. 

What ignominy, what infamy will be mine before the 
whole universe, when every one shall behold my sinfulness 
and shall point the finger at me, saying, " Behold the man," 



392 JEWS CRY OUT, LET JESUS BE CRUCIFIED 



proud, hypocritical, scandalous ! Ah, my Jesus ! I believe 
that I shall one day be present at that Last Judgment, 
and that Thou wilt be a most severe Judge of my sins, 
which now are the cause of Thy sufferings. And what 
shall then become of me ? Ah ! let me not fall into despair ; 
give me strength to breathe again with hope. Have pity, 
have mercy, Lord! because however great a sinner I am, 
Thou art and wilt always be my Saviour. My sins make 
me fear exceedingly, but do Thou grant that I may never 
on this account diffide in Thy mercy, through the merits 
of Thy most precious blood. I wish that I were able to 
blot out all my sins, and since I can do this only by means 
of sorrow and repentance, I grieve for them, and repent of 
them, and purpose frequently to sorrow and grieve for 
them. I am a poor blind creature, most liable to fall into 
sin, and most inclined to forget that I have sinned; but, 
for the sake of Thy holy Passion, grant me this mercy, 
compassionate Jesus! to make me a true penitent, by a 
perfect hatred for sin and a perfect love of Thee, the Sov- 
ereign Good. Therefore, on the Day of Judgment, I shall 
have the hope of Thine elect. 

If I do not wish that, at the Last Judgment, it should be 
said of me, " Behold the man," the sinner, I must so regu- 
late my life that of me it may be said, " Behold the man," 
penitent, contrite, and humbled. 



CHAPTER LIIL 

THE JEWS CRY OUT, LET JESUS BE CRUCIFIED ! 

I. Pilate permitted that Jesus Christ should be tor- 
mented and dishonored by his ministers in order that the 
anger of the Jews might be appeased ; he also exposed Him 
to the eyes of all, thus scourged, crowned with thorns, dis- 
gracefully dressed out and reproachfully scoffed at, so that 
their envy might be softened, and he said to them, in a 
compassionate tone, " Behold the Man ! " to move them to 



JEWS CRY OUT, LET JESUS BE CRUCIFIED 393 



pity. But the malice and malignity of the perfidious 
wretches rather increase, insomuch that having lost all 
humanity and become more ferocious even than wild beasts, 
they scarcely catch a glimpse of Him before they become 
more furious than ever in desiring His death, not being 
able to endure to see Him alive. 

Behold, my soul ! how in front of Jesus, in this deplor- 
able state, there is an innumerable multitude of Jews, and 
hear how all, nobles and plebeians, cry out loudly, " Let 
Jesus be crucified." 1 Does not thy heart tremble within thy 
breast, and is not thy soul horrified, to hear these cries ? 
how different are these wicked yells from those joyful salu- 
tations with which, five days ago, He was proclaimed King 
of Israel ! This is the way of the world. Now it exalts, 
then it oppresses ; now it embraces, again it betrays. Where 
is our common sense to place in it — so false, so treacherous, 
as it is, — our love and confidence ? 

But let us reflect, my soul ! how often, if not by mouth, 
certainly by the wickedness of works, have we also cried out 
against Jesus Christ, Crucifige! Crucifige! 2 misery! 
inconstancy ! I shall rather say, malice ! perverseness 
of mine ! In my Confessions and Communions, in my 
prayers, in the other exercises of a Christian life, I acknowl- 
edge Thee, my God ! I adore Thee as my supreme Lord, 
and my Sovereign Good; — but what then? A very short 
time elapses, and I am fascinated by my passions and I 
impiously hurry on to crucify Thee by sin, forgetful of 
having a short time previously acknowledged and adored 
Thee as God. 

Ah, my God! my iniquity strikes me with the greatest 
horror, greater than that of the Jews ; but since, by a ray of 
Thy divine light, I now learn the grievousness of my sins, 
what can I do as an atonement ? To compensate for these 
sinful deeds, by which I have cried Crucifige! my heart 
shall exclaim with bitterness, " I have sinned ! " and with 
tears of repentance my eyes shall cry out and call on Thee 
for pardon. Loving Jesus ! to Thee I faithfully resign the 

0) St. Mark xv, 14. (2) Ibid. 



394 JEWS CRY OUT, LET JESUS BE CRUCIFIED 

remainder of my life, and for the errors of my past life I 
shall not cease to pray that Thou wouldst deign to give me 
a contrite and humble heart, never again displeasing to Thy 
divine Majesty, — a heart contrite for having off ended Thee, 
and humble so as not to offend Thee more. I shall cast re- 
proaches on myself as I would upon the Jews, that whilst 
J esus Christ is brought before me with Ecce Homo I 1 I feel 
moved neither to compassion nor to compunction. 

II. Any other people, no matter how savage, would have 
been moved to pity at the sight of Jesus Christ. The Jews 
alone, accustomed to resist God and to rage against the 
great men sent by God, could be destitute of compassion. 
It is no longer a few that speak against Him ; they all cry 
out violently together, and their cry is that J esus be put to 
death, not by an ordinary death, but by the most cruel and 
ignominious of all deaths, — that of the cross. They appear 
like troops of soldiers in battle, as the Prophet had foretold, 
and their tongues are so many arrows and swords, that take 
aim at Jesus as at a target set up on purpose. 

We must conceive this hatred of the J ews as violent to the 
greatest possible degree, as truly diabolical, in order to 
form an idea, not so much of the external abjection of 
Jesus, as of His internal virtue, and to infer how incom- 
parably His charity exceeds the fury and the rage of all the 
Jews and of all the devils combined. As He was pleased to 
redeem us with a plentiful Kedemption, He did not consent 
to die by the sword, nor by any other weapon of steel that 
would take His life at a blow, in order that He might die, 
little by little, a death the most painful and difficult, the 
hardest of all deaths, on the gibbet of the cross. There- 
fore as He hears the cries, Crucifige ! Crucifige ! what satis- 
faction does it give to His loving desires ! But we must 
always reflect, that in Him neither does the suffering di- 
minish the satisfaction, nor does the satisfaction lessen the 
suffering. At one and the same time, He suffers and 
enjoys. 

Ah, my Jesus ! I am again shocked at the consideration 
(0 St. John six, 5* 



JEWS CRY OUT, LET JESUS BE CRUCIFIED 395 

of this point, that Thou shouldst feel consolation at the 
near approach of the time in which Thou art to he con- 
demned to die on the cross for me. Whence this love for me 
that Thou shouldst for me even desire a death that causes 
horror? When I look into my own conscience I acknowl- 
edge that I am, on account of my sins, deserving of hatred 
and of being severely punished, and that Thou dost love me 
even so as to love torments and the ignominies of the cross 
for my love ! Incomparable charity ! But, oh, what terror 
and dread, that not even with all this canst Thou prevail 
on me to love Thee ! 

Whence, my soul, is this hardness toward Jesus, as if 
thou wast totally insensible? Whence comes it, that in 
thee are sentiments so opposite to His that He should re- 
joice in being reminded of this cross on which He is going 
to die for thee, and that thou shouldst complain and writhe 
at the thought of resolving to mortify thyself in anything 
for Him? I behold my disease. Who, but Thou, my 
Jesus ! hast the power to cure it ?- Thou, who lovest to be 
loved by me, give me light to know Thee, help and strength 
to love Thee, with a love that may forcibly urge me to 
imitate Thee. 

I shall say to my soul, Crucifige! Crucifige! If thou art 
sincerely resolved to love Jesus Christ thou must crucify 
thyself, — that is, thy own will, thy passions, thy senses. 

III. Let us consider the cruelty of the Jews, because it 
may be of advantage to us. At the sight of J esus Christ in 
that pitiable condition their angry minds are not in the 
least quieted; but, like a fire which little by little grows 
until it becomes a conflagration, their anger becomes more 
inflamed and they cry 01. t, Crucifige, crucifige eum ! They 
would say: "It is not enough that Jesus should be 
scourged ; it is not enough that He should be crowned with 
thorns, reproached, disgraced; this is a trifling punish- 
ment compared with what He deserves. He must, more- 
over, be crucified." Thus it is with our passions ; the more 
they are indulged the more insolent they become, and con- 



396 JEWIS CRY OUT, LET JESUS BE CRUCIFIED 



timially cry with the inordinate appetites, "It is not 
enough," until sin has reached the acme of malice. 

Hence we may learn the necessity of resisting the move- 
ments of passion in their commencement. But, let us not 
leave J esus Christ. See, my soul ! how He stands, with His 
head bowed down, as debased as it is possible to be, before 
that multitude of people who yell out against Him, deride 
and insult Him. What affects Him is not the fear of death, 
for by His intrepid spirit He teaches us not to fear it; but 
it is, as the Prophet had said, the ingratitude of these un- 
happy Jews, who no longer remember the innumerable 
benefits of body and soul that they have received from Him 
and eagerly seek to have Him put to death, because, in their 
hearts, He is valued no more than if He were a beast. 

But, good Jesus ! didst Thou not even at that time 
behold my ingratitude also ? Yes, Thou didst see it. And 
oh ! how much more painfully must this have pierced Thy 
Heart than that of the Jews, since the benefits that Thou 
hast conferred upon me are greater, and I am so forgetful 
of them that, instead of thanking Thee, I offend Thee. I 
accuse myself, my Saviour ! of my perfidy and villainy, 
and I dare not raise my eyes since I also have cried out by 
my sins, Crucifige ! Crucifige ! after being, with signal kind- 
ness, distinguished by Thee in a thousand loving ways. 
Concentrated in my own nothingness, I humble myself and 
crave Thy pardon. 

I know that I am unworthy of it, for there is no one who 
is more undeserving of Thy mercy than I am, — a most un- 
grateful and most malicious sinner. But, in proportion as 
my unworthiness is greater, so will Thy goodness also ap- 
pear greater ; and I promise that with Thy assistance, mind- 
ful of my infinite obligations, I will be grateful to Thee in 
future, not only by offending Thee no more, but by loving 
Thee, obeying, and pleasing Thee every moment of my life. 
Ah, my Jesus, be it so, to Thy glory and to my eternal 
salvation ! 

My passions, similar to those of the Jews, make me re* 
belli ous and ungrateful to Jesus Christ. I can testify my 



JEWS CRY OUT, LET JESUS BE CRUCIFIED 397 

gratitude to Him in no better way than by mortifying them, 
without delay, for His love. 

IV. Let us not hurry over this point ; but pondering the 
exterior sufferings, as also the anguish of Jesus Christ, in 
being judged worthy of death at the very time when more 
than ever He should have been acknowledged worthy of 
compassion, let us strive the more to penetrate the spirit of 
His humility, which to us should be so much the more glori- 
ous as it is reputed more vile by the Jews and Gentiles. In 
our humility there is always some sort of necessity, through 
the knowledge we have of our vileness; but humility in 
Jesus Christ springs solely from His own will, for He 
humbles Himself to love abjection for our sake though fully 
conscious of His own excellence. 

Behold, my soul ! the admirable meekness of Jesus ; for, 
whilst all are pouring forth reproaches and maledictions 
against Him, He renders to no one evil for evil. On the 
contrary, He entertains a merciful love for each of those 
who are raging and infuriated against Him, and to all that 
is said and done by the impulse of cruelty, He replies with 
acts of most ardent charity. Thus does He fulfil the Pro- 
phetic oracle, carrying to its last degree the most perfect 
humility in His submission to the dispensations of the 
divine Will. 

But how, Eternal Father ! canst Thou permit that Thy 
Son, deserving of the benedictions and adorations of the 
whole world, should be execrated in this manner and pur- 
sued to death by these perfidious wretches ? Ah ! I do not 
understand the honor and glory which Thy Son gives Thee, 
in the midst of dishonors, by acts of the most sublime 
humility. At least, I ought to comprehend that all these 
humiliations have been ordained by Thee in punishment of 
my acts of pride; ordained for me, that I may learn to 
glorify Thee by humbling myself, and submitting to Thy 
holy will in the contradictions that befall me. Neverthe- 
less how proud I still am, though I meditate on the humil- 
ity of Jesus under the trials of so many insults and inju- 
ries ! What must I say of this indomitable pride of mine? 



398 JEWS CRY OUT, LET JESUS BE CRUCIFIED 



sovereign King, my most humble Saviour! who didst 
fortify my frailty by Thy humility, oh, do not deprive me 
of Thy helps ! I am weak, most weak. I become impa- 
tient, uneasy, and troubled at the slightest adversity that 
happens to me. I am most delicate on the point of honor, 
insomuch that the shadow of disgrace suffices to terrify me. 
Ah, Thou power of God, my strength, imprint Thy ex- 
ample on me ! I hope this will have the effect of making 
me abhor vain-glory, which I love, and make me love 
genuine humility, which I detest. 

1 shall reflect upon the occasions that may occur of my 
losing the esteem and confidence of those who have a good 
opinion of me. In all cases I shall prepare to practise 
patience, together with resignation to the will of God. 

V. J esus Christ hears His enemies cry, " Crucify, cru- 
cify Him ! " Whilst the tumult of these sacrilegious words 
is resounding in His ears He is no way discomposed, and 
opens not His mouth either to complain or to justify Him- 
self, but remains silent. If we consider the occasion for 
which He suffers, His charity is to be admired ; if the man- 
ner in which He suffers, His humility; and in all the cir- 
cumstances of His Passion, His patience. Three objects 
truly worthy of admiration, but that which we can best ap- 
preciate is His patience. 

See, my soul! how Jesus Christ, so tormented and in- 
sulted, is not angry either with His Eternal Father, who 
has destined Him to suffer; nor with mankind, for whom 
He suffers; nor with the ungrateful Jews, who repay His 
benefits by so bitter a Passion. It may be known from 
His patient silence that He is the true God, conformably to 
the saying of the Prophet. For what manner of patience is 
that of God, in bearing and passing over so many and such 
continual offences that are committed in the world ? Like- 
wise what sort of patience is this of Jesus, in suffering so 
many outrages, so many insults, from all kinds of people ? 
This must be a divine patience, the patience of a Man-God. 

We should retain the image of it in our heart, to use it 
as a shield in all circumstances that may befall us contrary 



JEWS CRY OUT, LET JESUS BE CRUCIFIED 399 



to the desires of self-love. Let the whole world cry out 
against me, Crucifige, crucifige eum! The remembrance 
of the patience of Jesus Christ, in His pains and igno- 
minies, shall be more than sufficient to restrain the move- 
ments of impatience. For here, more than elsewhere, in 
this Passion, and in this patience, does the soul clothe her- 
self with marvelous fortitude. 

most loving, most humble, and most patient Jesus ! I 
know the truth, but between knowing and practising it 
there is a vast distance; and, after having my understand- 
ing enlightened by Thy rays, I require that my will be also 
strengthened by Thy helps. Ah, Thou who art the example, 
the mirror of true patience, and who art, moreover, the re- 
ward and the crown of those that shall have practised 
patience for Thy love, give efficacy to my faith and hope, 
and then, whatsoever may occur my patience shall not be 
vanquished, encouraged by what I believe and hope. It is 
a sign that there is little faith, and little hope, when there 
is little patience. 

Patience to mortify myself willingly. Patience to bear 
in peace the defects and contradictions of my neighbor. 
Patience to receive with thanksgiving the sufferings sent 
from God. 

VI. As the Blessed Virgin had her heart entirely ab- 
sorbed in the Passion of her most loving Son, we may 
piously believe that she was present when Pilate showed 
Jesus Christ, with the words Ecce Homo! 1 and heard the 
clamors of the Jews when they cried, Crucifige, crucifige 
eum! 2 With what grief may we imagine to ourselves her 
most sweet soul was pierced at the sight of the Man-God, 
whom she loved more than herself, in that deplorable condi- 
tion, and also at the spectacle of the infuriated rage with 
which, by means of maledictions and blasphemies, they were 
seeking His death. Oh ! how different for Mary is the scene 
of the crib, where the angels sang, Gloria in Excelsis Deo /* 
to celebrate the Nativity of Jesus, from the public square 

0) St. John xix, 5. ( 2 ) St. Mark xv, 14. ( 3 ) St. Luke ii, 14. 



400 JEWS CRY OUT, LET JESUS BE CRUCIFIED 

of Jerusalem, where the Jews cry out, desiring to see Him 
on the cross. 

Contemplate, my soul ! the great Virgin Mother, in 
her affliction, worthy of our most tender compassion. What 
would she say at the first glance when she recognized her 
Son all wounds, from head to foot, with the crown of 
thorns, His hands bound, the reed in His hand, the cord 
around His neck, abashed and dishonored by so many in- 
sults and reproaches ? Hindered by sobs, sighs, and tears, 
she is incapable of uttering a word, but still she speaks 
with her heart, and by acts, now of love, now of amaze- 
ment, she gives vent to her grief. Her sorrow is on a par 
with her anxiety. Nevertheless, in so great an agitation of 
thoughts and affections, oh, what calmness is there within 
her, by her resignation to the divine Will ! As at the In- 
carnation of the Word, so in the Passion, she repeats, 
" Behold the handmaid of the Lord ; be it done to me ac- 
cording to thy word." 1 She adores the justice and the 
mercy of God, and instead of being roused to indignation, 
she humbles herself to venerate those ignominious torments 
which serve as instruments for the Eedemption of the 
world. 

Mary ! I compassionate the anguish of thy heart, and 
I admire the greatness of thy soul ; but in considering the 
tears that flow from thy eyes, forced from them by the 
bitterness of thy grief, I reflect upon myself and I am con- 
founded, for I know I am the cause of the Passion of thy 
Son by my sins. Acknowledging that tears are justly my 
portion, what a horrible thing it is that I have a heart so 
hard that I can not draw from it one single tear. Ah, 
dolorous Virgin ! give me the tears that thou didst shed in 
the Passion of Jesus Christ, and I shall value more highly 
those tears of compassion than all the frivolous joys of the 
world. 

From Mary I shall learn in my afflictions to resign myself 
to the divine Will. In this resignation we practise humil- 
ity, which is the foundation of sanctity; and moreover 
charity, the crown and fulness of perfection. 

(i) St. Luke i, 38. 



JESUS CBRIST DEFENDED BY PILATE 40I 



CHAPTER LIV. 

JESUS CHRIST DEFENDED BY PILATE AGAINST THE JEWS. 

I. Pilate is astonished at the infuriated Jews, who are 
not in the least moved to compassionate an innocent Man, 
worthy of all compassion, and who grow only more savage 
and insist that He should be crucified. Moved to anger on 
beholding himself despised, and disappointed in his plans, 
he says to them in a sharp and irritated tone : Take Him 
and crucify Him yourselves. I find no cause of death in 
Him. 1 divine Providence, how just art Thou! Jesus 
Christ has been brought to Pilate that He may be con- 
demned, and it happens, on the contrary, that as many as 
four times he declares Him innocent. 

The governor does not approve, but reprobates and de- 
tests the Jewish malignity, and perceiving that the treach- 
erous wretches would make use of him as a minister for the 
execution of their iniquity, protests aloud that they may 
do as they please, and the injustice will be imputed to them, 
but that he does not consent to the crime. This moral hon- 
esty is praiseworthy, — not to do that which is evil to please 
any one whatsoever. But let us reflect on the malice of the 
Jews. They are guilty of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ 
by the act of crying, Crucifige eum! 2 Nevertheless, they 
think that the fault will be imputed to Pilate, for they 
esteem themselves just and zealous because there is no 
human eye that sees their wicked passions of envy, anger, 
and hatred. They profess to live in the worship of a God 
who is the searcher of hearts, and they do not think at all 
of that God who is present with them and sees and discerns 
their bad intentions. Let us apply this reflection. 

I also believe, my God ! that wherever I may be Thou 
dost wholly encompass and penetrate me, and by Thy power, 
Thy presence, and Thy very essence art within me more 
intimately than I am in myself. But how do I profit by 
this faith for the regulation of my conduct? If men could 
behold the deformity of my passions and of my intentions, 

0) St. Luke xxiii. ( 2 ) St. Mark xv, 14. 



402 JESUS CHRIST DEFENDED BY PILATE 

what confusion and shame I should feel ! Ah ! Thou seest 
it, my God ! and yet I have no fear of Thy divine 
Majesty. I am more anxious not to appear culpable before 
the eyes of men than before Thine. my God! who by 
Thy goodness hast given me faith, grant me also this favor, 
that I may exercise myself in my faith and make a good 
use of it. How shall it be possible that I should again 
offend Thee in any way, if I really believe that Thou, my 
eternal Judge, art always present with me ? 

I shall imagine to myself that in the world there is no one 
but God and myself, that I may fear and love Him alone, 
with my eyes fixed on the truth, without regard to all be- 
sides, which is but vanity. 

II. The Jews seeing that Pilate makes no account of 
the accusation that Jesus had desired to make Himself 
king, soon produce another, — that He had made Himself 
the Son of God, and, therefore, that He could not escape 
death by the Law, which commands blasphemers to be put 
to death. This malice in thus recurring to the Law is in- 
excusable; for, if the Law states that the malefactor must 
not live and the innocent must not die, why not condemn 
the malefactor Barabbas, and liberate Jesus, who had been 
declared innocent ? 

It was already written that the Messiah was to be unjust- 
ly slain by the impious as the usurper of divine honors. 
But observe the perverseness of their injustice. After hav- 
ing said that Jesus Christ had made Himself the Son of 
God, why not relate also the wonderful works by which He 
had openly made Himself known for what He said He was ? 
Why not enumerate the dead raised to life, the blind re- 
stored to sight, the lepers cleansed by one single omnipo- 
tent command of His? Treachery can not be more 
manifest. 

But why, good Jesus! Thou who desirest to be be- 
lieved Man-God, why not now work at least one miracle in 
proof of Thy Divinity, having already wrought for this 
purpose so many others ? Eeflect, my soul, that all this is 
mysterious. Our Saviour is more solicitous to display His 



JESUS CHRIST DEFENDED BY PILATE 403 

patience than His omnipotence, because it is by patience 
that He is to work out our salvation. It is by patience, 
also, that we ourselves are to cooperate in our eternal salva- 
tion. It is particularly the virtue of patience, so necessary 
for the attainment of our eternal salvation, which He in- 
tended to merit for us in His bitter Passion. 

patience, virtue worthy of a God, and proper to Him ! 
Virtue so precious and so dear to Jesus Christ, how much 
shouldst thou also be loved by me ! I love and esteem thee, 
indeed, when I behold thee practised by others, but I know 
not how to love thee as my true good with a view to possess- 
ing thee. most patient Jesus ! I implore Thee to bestow 
this virtue upon me. I do not wish to suffer by force 
of pure necessity, for this would be the patience of a repro- 
bate ; but I beseech Thee to make me suffer in such a man- 
ner that I may love suffering for its own sake, and may 
love it through an ardent desire of imitating Thee, and of 
becoming like Thee, who hast loved to suffer so many sor- 
rows and dishonors for me. In a few words, I ask Thee for 
that Christian patience which is the characteristic of the 
predestined, and which consists in suffering for Thy love, in 
return for that invincible patience which Thou hast ex- 
ercised for my love throughout the whole course of Thy 
Passion. 

1 shall humble myself, with fear and trembling, acknowl- 
edging myself to be very far from the love of suffering. I 
shall humble myself, much more, from having reason to 
fear that even the very desire of this love consists entirely 
in words. 

III. Pilate hears the accusation, that Jesus Christ has 
said that He is the Son of God, and he has no sooner heard 
it than he is overwhelmed with an undefined sense of fear. 
But behold, again, how Jewish malice is confounded by 
the providence of Heaven. The Jews have asserted that 
Jesus has blasphemed in calling Himself the Son of God, 
and Pilate begins to feel a doubt whether that which is 
called blasphemy be not perhaps the truth. The Jews wish 
that Jesus Christ, for having made Himself the Son of God, 



404 JESUS CHRIST DEFENDED BY PILATE 

should be condemned in virtue of the Law ; and Pilate, not 
for the Law, which he does not know, but precisely for this, 
that J esus has made Himself the Son of God, refrains from 
condemning Him. Pilate, being an idolater, knows noth- 
ing of the mysteries of the Divinity. Nevertheless, having 
heard, through fame, the wonders and virtues of this Man, 
it appears possible to him that He may be God, and for 
fear of incurring the indignation of a God he dares not 
put Him to death. 

But while the judge and the people are disputing, what 
is Jesus Christ doing? He hears, and He is silent; and 
thus exercising the functions proper to a Man-God, He 
shows by what He suffers that He is Man, and by the 
virtue with which he suffers that He is God. Hence, Pilate, 
on beholding the patience of Jesus, which is more than 
human, becomes confirmed in his idea that He may be God. 
This excites apprehension, and he yields to fear. 

Reflect, my soul! The simple fear that, perhaps, Jesus 
Christ may be God, suffices to restrain Pilate from consent- 
ing to put Him to death. How comes it, then, that we, 
who, by the light of holy faith, believe Him certainly to be 
God, fear Him so little ; and that our fear is not sufficient to 
prevent our sins ? Ah, my God ! who is there to be found 
more blind or more unhappy than I ? It seems to me, some- 
times, that I love Thee, or at least desire to love Thee ; but 
I deceive myself, for how can it be that there is even a 
spark of the love of God in my heart whilst there is not in it 
even the fear of God? To love Thee I must fear Thee, and 
fear is the first requisite Thou dost exact in order to dis- 
pose me to love. 

My Jesus ! take pity then on this Thy poor creature, who 
is destitute of the fear of God. Make me fear Thee to 
avoid offending Thee, make me fear Thee that I may love 
Thee, and save myself for all eternity. Truly, this is an im- 
mense grace, which I do not deserve; but if I do not merit 
the grace of fearing Thee, Thou deservest the honor of 
being feared. Therefore I beg of Thee Thy holy fear, 



LAST EXAMINATION OF JESUS BY PILATE 405 



through that love which Thou hast for Thy glory, and for 
my eternal salvation. 

Without desiring any sort of mystical union, of which I 
am unworthy, I shall endeavor to ground myself in humil- 
ity and in the fear of God; thus shall I acquire grace, to- 
gether with happiness. 



CHAPTEK LV. 

LAST EXAMINATION OF JESUS CHRIST AT THE TRIBUNAL OF 

PILATE. 

I. Pilate fears that Jesus Christ may be God. His 
conscience makes him fear ; for, having wrongfully inflicted 
on Him scourges and mockery, he justly fears that some 
severe punishment may fall upon him. Desiring, therefore, 
to form a clear judgment regarding the truth, he makes 
Him go with him to the Praetorium, to interrogate Him. 
Here he does not interrogate Him in order to make up his 
mind concerning the case as to what He has done, but only 
to know whence He comes. He asks, " Whence art 
Thou ? " 1 to satisfy himself thoroughly whether He is a 
heavenly or an earthly Man. Thus it always happens, that 
he who does evil carries remorse and trouble in his con- 
science. 

What answer does Jesus Christ give to this question? 
None. He does this, as well because the Prophecy has to 
be fulfilled that He is now to be like a dumb lamb, as 
because Pilate is unworthy of an answer for not having 
chosen in previous examinations to hear the truth from 
His mouth. This is God's manner of dealing, — to aug- 
ment grace in him who faithfully corresponds with it, 
and likewise to refuse it to him who negligently and un- 
gratefully will not profit by it. 

This punishment is much more severe than is believed, 
and is frequently incurred, but never except through our 
own fault. At the hour of death we shall not be able to 

(i) St. John xix, 9. 



406 LAST EXAMINATION OF JESUS BY PILATE 



complain that grace was wanting to us on certain occasions, 
for we shall see that we have rejected and despised it in 
such and such circumstances. Graces are linked one 
with another. Often it is only necessary to correspond well 
with the first to have others afterward, and so to attain 
sanctity; and it only requires that some one grace be de- 
spised to be on that account deprived of many, and to fall 
into obduracy of heart. 

This is a consoling, and, at the same time, an alarming 
truth ! Consoling for the future, if I take care to value the 
divine inspirations, though they may regard little things, 
such as mortifying my body in a temptation of curiosity, in 
greediness, small passions, etc. Formidable as regards the 
past, since, as I remember that I have rejected a great num- 
ber, who knows whether for this I am not suffered to remain 
in a fatal tepidity from which I shall never again arise? 

I fear and tremble, my God ! and I feel my courage fail 
me to ask Thee again for any grace, for I am aware that I 
do not deserve it. I am a hundred thousand times more 
unworthy than Pilate. But alas ! shall I also add this to 
my crimes, of judging my unworthiness greater than Thy 
infinite goodness ? 'No, my most clement Saviour ! I im- 
plore Thy mercy, and I offer in satisfaction to Thy justice 
the merits of Thy Passion. I beg of Thee to give me a 
strong assisting grace by which I may obey Thee in all the 
inspirations which it shall please Thee to grant me. 

I shall receive every inspiration that either withdraws 
me from evil or conducts me to good as the last that God 
will send me. On this grace, perhaps, will depend my 
damnation if I resist, or my salvation if I promptly obey it. 

II. When J esus Christ is asked, " Whence art Thou ? " 
that is, " Whose Son art Thou ? " He answers nothing and 
keeps secret the mystery of His divine Sonship; which, 
being one of the sublimest and holiest of truths, must not 
be made known to the unworthy. But the governor, im- 
agining that perhaps He replies not through want of re- 
spect for himself or through proud haughtiness, becomes 
very angry, as if insulted. Thus he imperiously vents his 



LAST EXAMINATION OF JESUS BY PILATE 40? 



spleen against Jesus Christ, to oblige Him to answer: 
" Speakest Thou not to me ? Knowest Thou not that I 
have power to crucify Thee, and that I have power to re- 
lease Thee ? " x 

Let us reflect how Pilate, in the act of boasting that he 
has the power either to crucify or to liberate Jesus Christ, 
manifestly convicts himself of injustice. For if he has the 
power, why not discharge the Man whom he has ascertained 
and declared to be innocent ? Why does he not exercise, in 
favor of Jesus Christ, that power which a short time pre- 
viously he employed to liberate Barabbas, the malefactor? 
But do I not see that what I say of Pilate I have greater 
reason to say of myself ? 

I also have free will, which is like a governor who has 
the power of choosing good or evil; the power of sinning 
and of not sinning, — which is as much as to say, the power 
of offending or not offending God ; the power of crucifying 
or not crucifying Jesus Christ. Having, likewise, by faith 
other lights to know the sanctity of this Man-God, do I not 
willingly condemn myself by using the power of my will 
to sin, and to offend Him, when I might use it to avoid sin 
and obey Him ? 

Ah, my God ! by my own conscience, without further tes- 
timony, I am convicted as guilty of boundless malice. I 
accuse myself of the ill use I have made, and am con- 
tinually making, of my free will. Whereas, it having been 
given to me that I might merit by adhering to reason and 
loving the beauty of virtue, I use it to my ruin, in following 
concupiscence and giving myself up a prey to the deformi- 
ties of vice. 

Of all the sins I commit the sole cause is my will, which 
abuses its liberty in consenting to what is wrong. It is of 
no use to throw the blame on my senses. They are nothing 
but ministers. It is the will alone that commands, and to 
this alone every evil must be attributed. But, my God ! 
I now resign to Thee my will, my liberty, my choice. Eule 
Thou me and check in me, by Thy grace, the power that I 

0) St. John xix, 10. 



408 LAST EXAMINATION OF JESUS BY PILATE 



have for evil, that I may never commit it. Strengthen me 
to do good ; then I shall do it, and I shall give to Thee the 
glory, and shall be indebted to Thee for it throughout 
eternity. 

No one sins but he that wills it. No one is condemned 
but he that wills it. Ah ! shall I use the power that I have 
to be the child of God to make myself a reprobate child of 
hell ? I shall reflect whether this will turn to my advantage. 

III. Before Pilate, who vainly glories in the power of 
giving life and death, what should Jesus Christ say, He 
who is so humble, that though He has dominion over all 
creatures on earth and in heaven, still looks upon Himself 
as nothing and as having nothing whereof to glory in ? He 
is silent, He says not a word in His defence ; but He can not 
remain silent when the honor of God must be defended. 
Therefore, hearing Pilate arrogantly attributing to him- 
self a power that appertains to God, He thus, with dignity, 
reproves him : " Thou shouldst not have any power against 
Me, unless it were given thee from above." 1 

Jesus Christ wishes us to learn that we ought not to boast 
of anything, for of ourselves we are miserable and every 
good that we possess is given us by God. He also wishes us 
to learn that whatever affliction happens to us ought to be 
received by us as ordained by God, not as caused by others ; 
not even by the devil, who can do nothing without God's 
permission. But, above all, He is careful that it should be 
known that Pilate has no jurisdiction over Him, and that 
all that is done happens because He so permits it ; nor could 
any one molest Him if He did not will it. He would have 
us know that He suffers neither by necessity nor force, in 
order that we may thereby comprehend that His Passion 
was a pure effect of His most merciful love. 

Why so great anxiety, Lord, to manifest to me Thy 
love! Each of Thy wounds tells me that it is there in 
order to oblige me to love Thee in return ; — and is not this 
my duty? Yes, I love Thee, I love Thee, and I desire al- 
ways to love Thee more, my God ! happy lot, that I 

(•) St. John xix, 11. 



LAST EXAMINATION OF JESUS BY PILATE 409 

need not go to inquire what I am to do in order to love 
Thee, since Thou Thyself deignest to teach me! I know 
Thy commandments, Thy counsels, the virtues in which 
Thou desirest I should exercise myself; and since Thou 
givest me to understand that I shall truly love Thee when 
I live in the manner which Thou hast prescribed for me, 
thus I am determined to live. 

My soul, reflect ! As J esus Christ is not satisfied with 
suffering, but is pleased that it should be known that He 
suffers for our love, so it is not sufficient for us to do what 
we should, but we must do it through love of Him. There- 
fore I shall obey not merely by the outward observance of 
the law, my God! but with Thy help, which I implore, 
I shall obey for Thy love. I will have patience in adver- 
sity, and that for Thy love. I will be meek, charitable, 
modest ; and, in all this, I shall have no other end but Thy 
love. 

Until now how many good works have I done through 
routine, or human respect ! I shall be careful, whether in 
doing good or in avoiding evil, to gain merit for myself in 
everything for the love of God. 

IV. When Jesus Christ says that earthly power can do 
nothing to Him, and that all that is done to Him is by a 
divine dispensation, He does not excuse the malice of men 
as if they were not guilty of the injustice practised against 
Him. On the contrary, in order that Pilate may not de- 
ceive himself with the idea that he has no share in the sin, 
He adds : " Therefore, he that has delivered Me to thee, 
hath the greater sin." 1 By this the wicked judge may 
understand that though others have sinned more than he, 
he also has sinned by abuse of power, in not doing what 
he ought by setting the innocent free. 

But, if in the Passion of Jesus Christ, Pilate has sinned 
less than others, who has sinned more? Certainly, Judas 
has sinned more, for he was the originator of the evil. The 
chief priests have sinned more, — through envy they deliv- 
ered Him up to the secular power. The Jews have sinned 

0) St. John xix, 11. 



410 PILATE AGAIN ATTEMPTS JESUS' LIBERATION 



more, — through hatred they cried Crucifige! But let us 
penetrate more deeply into the truth of this matter. Who, 
in this Passion, has sinned the most? Without doubt, of 
all those who cooperated in making Jesus Christ suffer, he 
sins most who does the most to destroy the merits of this 
same Passion and defeat the end for which Jesus suffered. 
For what end has Jesus Christ suffered but for the salvation 
of souls? More than all, then, may we say that those 
Christians sin who prevent the salvation of souls by scandal. 
This sin is beyond all others grievous, sacrilegious and 
horrible. 

And how frequently has this sin been committed by me ? 
Ah, my God ! my scandals are so many that it is impossible 
for me to recollect them. The souls are innumerable to 
whom I have given scandal; sometimes by unlawful con- 
versations, sometimes by bad advice, evil example, and 
perverse suggestions. I have then sinned the most griev- 
ously of all against Thee, Saviour of souls! And how 
can I, the most malicious of sinners, hope in Thy Pas- 
sion, which has been so often opposed by me with my scan- 
dals? Nevertheless, I hope because Thou wiliest that I 
should hope; and, contrite for all and each of those sins 
which I have caused others to commit, I ask pardon for 
them from Thy mercy. In future I will neither offend 
Thee again nor give occasion to any one to offend Thee. 

It is but little to offend God no more, and not to cause 
Him to be offended. In penance for my scandals I will 
endeavor to bring back souls to God by good exhortations, 
good advice, and good example. 



CHAPTEE LVI. 

PILATE AGAIN ATTEMPTS THE LIBERATION" OF JESUS CHRIST. 

I. Twice has Jesus Christ been questioned in this last 
examination. At the first interrogatory, He answered 



PILATE AGAIN ATTEMPTS JESUS' LIBERATION 41 1 

nothing ; at the second, He said a few words. Nevertheless, 
the holy Gospel states that Pilate immediately began to 
try again to liberate Jesus, that he might not be guilty of 
the death of an innocent Man who, his conscience told him, 
might perhaps be the Son of God. 

But let us reflect for what reasons Pilate fears that Jesus 
may be God. In the first place, he fears because he has 
beheld Him silent in His own cause. And, in truth, if He 
had replied in His own defence, it might have been thought 
that He defended Himself through fear of death, and, 
therefore, He must be man. Since He kept silence, and by 
silence showed His invincible fortitude in despising death, 
there was reason to think that He was more than man, and 
that He was God. Pilate moreover fears that J esus Christ 
is God because he has heard Him speak of a divine Majesty 
on which all human power depends. Here is something for 
us to admire, and at the same time to imitate. Jesus 
Christ, whether He speaks or remains silent, always en- 
deavors, by virtuous impressions, to sanctify the name of 
God. 

worthy example ! See, my soul ! how edified Pilate is, 
both by the silence and by the words of Jesus Christ. 
Hence, learn the prudent caution and circumspection that 
thou shouldst practise with the tongue. I have great need 
of this Thy admonition, most sweet Saviour ! because in my 
silence, as well as in my conversation, I have not an atom 
of discretion. My silence is almost always useless, my 
words are almost always useless; and scarcely ever does 
either my silence or my speech arise from virtue. How 
many times have I been idly silent, without at all con- 
sidering the welfare of my neighbor! How often have I 
viciously spoken with boasting, slander, and duplicity ! Ah, 
my God ! I offer to Thee my tongue. Do Thou govern it, 
and grant, by Thy most holy grace, that, if it is silent, the 
silence may be virtuous; if it speaks, its words may be 
virtuous. May it never say anything that is an offence 
against Thee, nothing that may be hurtful to my neighbor. 
This is not sufficient. Do Thou move my tongue to speak 



412 PILATE AGAIN ATTEMPTS JESUS' LIBERATION 

always of good things with fruit, especially in company 
and in conversation. 

Out of the abundance of the heart the tongue speaks. 
Therefore I should fill my heart with holy maxims, holy 
thoughts, and holy affections, for in this way my words will 
breathe an odor of sanctity. 

II. The Jews perceive that neither the appeal to their 
Law, nor the imputation of the crime that Jesus has made 
Himself the Son of God, makes the slightest impression on 
Pilate; and since, on the contrary, the judge is rather in- 
clined to release Him, they commence to shout aloud, " If 
thou release this Man, thou art not Caesar's friend/' 1 
They are determined that Pilate shall yield willingly or by 
force, and as all other attempts fail, they try to intimidate 
him by holding out the threat of Caesar's displeasure. 

However, one reflection must not be omitted. Pilate has 
never seen Jesus Christ work a miracle. He has only seen 
Him in the midst of ignominies. He has heard from Him 
only some few words, and he fears that He may be God; 
and through fear refrains from condemning Him. The 
Jews, on the contrary, after having frequently been specta- 
tors of His miracles and hearers of His heavenly doctrine, 
become more infuriated than ever in desiring that He may 
be condemned and put to death, for those reasons for 
which they ought precisely to adore Him. Behold verified 
in them the prophetical malediction, that they would reach 
a state in which they would no longer profit by what they 
should see and hear. 

Thy judgments, my God ! are inscrutable and dread- 
ful. Nevertheless, they are always right and just. It 
is true, that when a soul attains a certain degree of malice, 
Thou permittest that she should fall into a blindness, a 
deafness, a dryness, an insensibility which is fatal; since 
she no longer takes advantage of anything for her salvation. 
It is equally true, that pride is the cause for which Thou 
deprivest the soul of Thy gracious gifts. How much reason 
is there for me to fear that I also may bring myself, by 

0) St. John xix, 12. 



PILATE AGAIN ATTEMPTS JESUS' LIBERATION 413 

my pride, to such a state, that those helps failing me by 
which Thou hast supported Thy elect, I may fall headlong 
from bad to worse with the reprobate? 

This pride is not recognized by me, but though I do not 
know it, Thou knowest it, my God! And oh, by the 
humility of Thy Passion, have mercy on me ; do not regard 
my unworthiness, but my necessity. I am a poor sick man. 
My disease is my pride, and who can cure me, if not Thou, 
who art the Physician of my soul ? Jesus of Nazareth ! 
I confide in Thee, and into Thy hands I abandon myself. 

I shall fear that J esus may withdraw His grace from me 
when I least expect it. I deserve this punishment. With 
this constant fear I shall subdue and conquer my pride. 

III. Not in vain have the Evangelists left us a written 
record of the malignity of the Jews ; since from that record 
we may also gather mysterious and salutary instructions. 
Let us observe the way in which they continued to calum- 
niate Jesus Christ. They first put forth the accusation 
that He had made Himself king, and Pilate rejected it as 
frivolous. Then they bring forward the other, that He 
had made Himself the Son of God; and this one in like 
manner not being accepted, they return anew to the first, 
saying that having made Himself king, He is a rebel against 
Caesar. Whether by Jewish or by Roman law, they insist 
that J esus is deserving of death ; and that Pilate, if he has 
not the fear of God to move him to punish a blasphemer, 
shall have fear of Caesar, to make him punish a rebel. 

For what purpose have these things been written, if not 
that to all may be known the Jewish perverseness of which 
Pilate himself was aware; and that it being known to all 
that Jesus Christ was wickedly calumniated, His innocence 
moreover may be made clear to all? But wherefore has 
Pilate been able to satisfy himself that all the accusations 
made were calumnies? marvel worthy to be noted! 
With the semblance of zeal, the Jews speak powerfully 
against Jesus Christ; still, for all they say, Pilate is never 
persuaded that Jesus Christ is guilty. J esus Christ, on the 
other hand, neither answers their calumnies nor defends 



414 PILATE AGAIN ATTEMPTS JESUS' LIBERATION 

Himself, but is silent. His silence is so powerful that it 
moves Pilate to believe firmly that the Jews are wicked 
calumniators. 

What an astounding lesson ! It is not by defending one- 
self, but by acting rightly and by keeping silence, that inno- 
cence is most clearly brought to light amidst calumnies. I 
am no sooner aware that some one has detracted me, but my 
anger rises, and I yield to it. I can find no peace until I 
have exculpated and justified myself and made known to all 
the injustice of the persecution that I suffer. This is not 
the right way. 'No, under such circumstances a great talker 
is neither wise nor strong. I will then learn to be silent, 
and that not like a stoic, with secret haughtiness, but to be 
silent like a good Christian, with meek and modest humility. 

But who can teach me this virtuous silence, if not Thou, 
my adorable Saviour? Thy silence is a silence that 
speaks, that persuades and penetrates. Oh, speak by means 
of it to my heart ! By the power of Thy example I hope to 
correct my unbridled loquaciousness. I shall imitate Thy 
humble silence, well convinced that I shall always be more 
tranquil and better satisfied with having held my peace in 
patience, than with having spoken ostentatiously in my own 
defence. 

I shall conduct myself with the propriety becoming my 
condition, not through fear of detraction, but through love 
of virtue, and virtue will give me strength and courage to 
bear the detractions that shall be pronounced against me 
without my fault. 

IY. Pilate, hearing himself menaced with the displeas- 
ure of the Eoman emperor if he does not punish Jesus 
Christ, begins to experience some fear, and being unable to 
despise the law of Caesar, as he had a short time before de- 
spised the law of Moses, shows a disposition to use diligence 
in the discussion of the cause. Therefore, having conduct- 
ed Jesus Christ again to the public balcony, he seats him- 
self on the tribunal, as though he was going to proceed with 
the examination in the presence of all. But, behold ! in a 
moment he changes his mind. Being persuaded that it is 



PILATE AGAIN ATTEMPTS JESUS' LIBERATION 415 

vain to seek for guilt when innocence is manifest, instead 
of acting the judge he undertakes the office of advocate. 

Shortly before, in showing Jesus Christ to the Jews, 
Pilate had said, " Behold the Man ! m to excite in them 
some feeling of compassion; now seeing that they lay the 
greatest stress on their accusation, that He had aspired to 
the kingdom of Judea, he says to them in a voice of re- 
proach and mockery, " Behold your King ! " 2 By this he 
would say : " Where is your common sense, in suspecting 
a Man so abject and so unlike a warrior should think of 
making Himself king ? Look at Him, and you will under- 
stand how vain is your fear, and how false your accusation." 

See, my soul! how Pilate in order to defend innocence, 
denies and combats truth. He says, it is not possible that 
J esus Christ should be king. Still He is truly King, since 
from the moment that He became Incarnate, the Archangel 
Gabriel predicted that He should reign in the house of 
Jacob, and that of His kingdom there should be no end. 
Therefore, what a grief for the Saviour of the world, who is 
Truth itself, to hear that judge making His defence by ad- 
vancing a falsehood ! 

my Jesus ! whilst Pilate treats Thee as a mock king, 
let it be granted me to acknowledge and adore Thee as my 
true King. Yes, Thou art my King ; and since Thou hast 
said that Thy kingdom is within me, behold I open to Thee 
the gates, and I give to Thee the keys, that sin may no 
longer reign in me, but Thou alone may est reign there by 
grace, throughout the length of my life, and also by glory 
for eternity. happy me, if Thou deignest to reign in 
me! I shall assuredly reign also eternally with Thee, 
to contemplate the splendor of Thy countenance in the 
kingdom of Thy Father. Come then, come to me, my 
King ! and take from me, that is, from my soul, everything 
that can offend Thy most pure eyes; that Thou mayest 
reign therein with pleasure. To purify my soul, I beg of 
Thee, Jesus ! by the merits of Thy painful and oppro- 
brious Passion, one perfect act of contrition. 

0) St. John xix, 5. ( 2 ) St. John xix, 14. 



416 DILATE AGAIN ATTEMPTS JESUS' LIBERATION 

I shall listen to the voice of this King, who is within me, 
and to Him alone I will be obedient, and no longer to 
sensual concupiscence, which until now I have obeyed. 

V. Pilate has scarcely shown Jesus Christ to the Jews 
to undeceive them, and to convince them that it is im- 
possible that a man so poor and wretched can be ambitious 
to make Himself a king, when they all begin furiously to 
cry out: "Away with Him; away with Him; crucify 
Him ! " wonderful and horrible thing ! It was the 
Jews who acknowledged Him before to be worthy of the 
kingdom, and sought to make Him king. The Jews are 
witnesses how far removed He is from a wish to usurp 
Caesar's kingdom, because of the virtues that He practised 
and taught. It was the Jews who having seen Him com- 
mand the sea, the winds, diseases, devils, and death, con- 
fessed Him to be the divine Master. And these are the 
very same J ews who now hate Him to that degree that they 
can no longer endure Him. The same Jews who cry out 
with greater cruelty than ever, insisting on His death, and 
that upon a cross, as if He were an infamous criminal. 

What sayest thou, my soul ? If thou considerest the life 
thou hast led till now, at one time doing good, at another 
evil ; at one time honoring, then offending God, canst thou 
not see in these Jews an image of thyself ? Behold and hear 
the Eternal Father, who shows thee Jesus in the state in 
which Pilate showed Him to the Jews, and says to thee, 
" Behold thy King ! ,n Wilt thou also cry out against Him, 
and insist on His being nailed to the cross ? 

Ah, my adorable Saviour ! on the contrary, I will cry out, 
" Live and live forever, my Sovereign King ! 99 But my 
conscience reproaches me. How can it be that J esus is my 
King, if I am not His subject? I belong indeed to the 
Christian religion, but how many Christians are there who, 
though they profess to be Thine, my God ! art not how- 
ever Thine, because they neither honor nor obey Thee as 
they are bound to do? I fear to be one of these, and it 
is my tepid and deplorable life that makes me fear and 
(0 St. John xix, 14. 



PILATE AGAIN ATTEMPTS JESUS' LIBERATION 417 

greatly fear. I am numbered with Thine, but I am not 
indeed Thine ; because I do not live as Thy children should 
live. 

Therefore, my Lord ! permit me, a miserable sinner, to 
pray to Thee. Make me one of Thine, one of the elect, to 
whom, with the remission of their sins, thou likewise givest 
eternal salvation. Grant that I may be Thine, not in words, 
but in effect. And what must I do to be Thine? Dost 
Thou wish to know, my soul, what thou must do? Be 
obedient to Jesus in that which He has taught Thee by 
His holy word. Be faithful to Jesus, by imitating Him in 
His virtues, and above all, in His meekness and humility. 
Thus He will be thy King, and thou wilt be of His people, 
now and always, for eternal ages. 

The kings of the world wish to be feared. Jesus alone, 
the King of kings, seeks to be loved. I shall thank Him 
that He deigns to allow Himself to be loved, and I shall 
implore Him to give me grace to employ my whole life in 
loving Him. 

VI. Pilate sees how malignant the Jews are against 
Jesus Christ, hence he also fears to be spitefully accused 
by them at Caesar's tribunal. Nevertheless, he makes an 
effort to conquer fear, and to the clamors with which they 
cry out, like wild beasts, Crucifige! 1 he answers in a way 
calculated to reproach their blind perfidy, " Shall I crucify 
your king ? " 2 that is, a Man so much esteemed by your- 
selves that you judged Him worthy to be your king. This 
the governor exclaims, with gravity, to make these impious 
men ashamed and to treat them with ignominy. By the 
ignominies of Jesus Christ, he has been unable to appease 
them ; but they, far from being ashamed, repeat again and 
again, with insolent haughtiness, that they will have no 
other king but Caesar. 

sacrilegious cries ! To reject the Messiah, the true Son 
of God and Lord of the universe, in order to be under the 
protection of a frail king of the earth. This cry was a stab 
to the Heart of Jesus Christ, from His great desire for the 

(0 St. John xix, 15. (*) Ibid. 



418 PILATE AGAIN ATTEMPTS JESUS' LIBERATION 

good of His beloved nation. He had already complained 
of it, with bitter sighs, by the month of His Prophets. It 
was, moreover, precisely on this account that to the same 
nation later on befell the predicted series of spiritual and 
temporal calamities. 

I shall penetrate the deep sense of this point, for it is on 
this that my eternal destiny depends. My king is he that 
rules within me ! And who is it that rules within me ? 
God ! I feel in my heart a countless number of tyrants, each 
of whom contends for its dominion. Now pride assaults 
me, now envy, now avarice, now anger, now luxury, now 
sloth ; and all the vices vie with one another to lord it over 
me. It is true, my God ! I sometimes by Thy help resist ; 
but in the meantime I groan and fear, for courage fails me, 
and I grow faint in the combat. I acknowledge Thee, 
most merciful Saviour ! for my true God and absolute Lord, 
and I declare and profess that I have no other King than 
my Lord Jesus Christ. But how can I, vile, despicable 
wretch that I am, overcome so many of Thy enemies and 
mine? 

Come, then, my Jesus! and vanquish all these vices 
that fight in me and against me to usurp the dominion of 
my heart. Come and reign in me, for Thou alone art my 
King, my God, my Saviour! Take possession of my 
thoughts and affections, so that I may, above all things, 
delight in thinking of Thee, and may make acts of love to 
Thee, and never desire anything but what Thou wiliest. 

I shall repent of all those times, that like the Jews, I 
rejected Jesus, excluding Him entirely from me, by re- 
fusing to obey both His commandments and His counsels. 



CHAPTER LVII. 

PILATE CONSENTS TO THE CONDEMNATION OF JESUS CHRIST. 

L Pilate did much to escape condemning Jesus Christ ; 
publishing His innocence, contradicting the calumnies of 
the priests, and seeking by conciliation to mitigate their 



PILATE CONSENTS TO JESUS* CONDEMNATION 419 

rage and the tumult of the people. But after repeatedly 
supporting the rights of justice, at last overcome by im- 
portunate clamor, he yields ; and forgetting all that he has 
said and done in Jesus Christ's defence, losing sight of 
wisdom and constancy, he agrees to the condemnation of 
the innocent Victim. 

Nothing else could be expected from him. He had al- 
ways shown too pliant a weakness in the fulfilment of his 
duties ; without a heart to resist like a man the enemies of 
truth. This is what may, in like manner, be expected from 
any one who behaves in the service of God with tepidity and 
sloth. Lights and qualms of conscience are not wanting, as 
they were not wanting even to Pilate; but as with Pilate 
again, they are coldly corresponded with. Hence it is that 
first we waver and are inconstant in good. Afterward we 
fall insensibly into evil, and lose all merit even so far as 
to forfeit eternal salvation, which he only gains who perse- 
veres in virtue to the end. 

My God, how terrible are Thy eternal judgments ! I can 
not without fear and trembling call to mind the examples 
of so very many who, after being exemplary in virtue, have 
fallen into vice, and have continued in vice, without ever 
rising again. And who knows whether so fatal a case will 
not be mine? I can not depend on myself, for I carry 
fragility and instability in my very nature. Nor can I 
promise myself anything from Thy grace, my God ! since 
this is a gift of Thine which at any given time may be 
denied me, without Thy doing me the least injustice. 
Who knows, then, that Thy grace may not, when I least 
think of it, abandon me, and that thus I may rush head- 
long from bad to worse? If this were to happen, I could 
never say that I had not deserved it. Therefore, while I 
entertain this fear, I fly to Thee, my divine Saviour! 
and I beg of Thee to take from me that fear which might 
lead me to despair, and together with confidence in Thy 
mercy, to give me a holy dread of Thy justice, which may 
urge me on to good, withdraw me from evil, and keep me in 
humility. 



420 PILATE CONSENTS TO JESUS' CONDEMNATION 

I shall reflect on my wretched state of great tepidity. I 
shall ask of God for His assistance and grace worthily to 
correspond with His holy inspirations. 

II. Pilate endeavors to liberate Jesus Christ, but lan- 
guidly. His courage fails him to sustain truth and justice ; 
his timidity increases in proportion as the audacity of the 
Jews increases. He fears Jesus Christ, and dares not con- 
demn Him, saying: What will become of me, if I put to 
death One who is the Son of God? But if he does not 
condemn Him, he also fears the Jews, and asks with 
anxiety: What will become of me, if they accuse me to 
Caesar ? Unhappy man, who against the fear of God puts, 
as it were, in a balance, a vain fear of men! He knows 
nothing of the Prophetic oracles, which warn us not to 
allow ourselves to be frightened by any one whoever it may 
be when we are called to stand courageously for God; but 
whilst he is wishing neither to condemn Jesus Christ, nor 
to offend the Jews, what else can be expected but that he 
will yield to human fear? This is precisely the outcome. 
He fears the J ews, therefore he does not resist them, but he 
yields to their violent demand for the condemnation of 
Jesus Christ. 

Am I perhaps in this situation myself ? My God ! how 
many times have I, in order not to displease men, said and 
done things displeasing to Thee? On Pilate's principle, I 
wished, on the one side, not to offend Thy divine Majesty ; 
but I would not, on the other, meet the ill-will of the world. 
What has been the consequence? Thus embarrassed be- 
tween the fear of Thee and of the world, worldly fear has 
triumphed in me. I have listened to the tongues of liber- 
tines, and through fear of u what will be said of me, if I 
make myself singular'' I have yielded to the practice of 
irreverence in church, of detraction, of flattery, intem- 
perance, and licentious freedom in company. I knew that 
I was obliged courageously to behave like a good Chris- 
tian, and care nothing for being remarked or scoffed at; 
and yet the fear of the world has conquered me, and I have 
feared the world more than Thee. 



PILATE CONSENTS TO JESUS' CONDEMNATION 421 

Even now what a slave am I to human respect, contrary 
to the command given me in the Gospel, not to fear even 
one that should seek to kill me ; and to fear only Thee who 
canst strike me in body and soul with temporal and eternal 
death. my Lord, my Jesus! I accept the rebuke that 
Thou givest to my cowardice, for having feared the creature 
more than the Creator. I shall no longer be afraid of any- 
thing but sin. I shall fear Thy omnipotence, Thy justice, 
Thy anger ; for who is there that can resist Thee ? But oh ! 
strengthen by Thy power my pusillanimous soul, so that 
nothing may again allure or divert me from seeking Thy 
glory on every occasion. 

In examining myself, I discover a multitude of sins 
which I commit on account of my disposition, which is too 
accommodating and causes me to be led away with the feel- 
ings first of one, then of another. In this regard I shall 
strengthen my weakness. 

III. Pilate fears being accused at Eome by the Jews if 
He allows Jesus Christ to go free ; and, moreover, he fears 
not only that he may not, in that case, know how to justify 
himself, but that he may be deprived of his office. Whence 
springs his fear, if not from ambition? He loves his 
dignity to excess, his dignity of governor. Consequently, 
from fear of losing it, he readily turns from his duty and 
prefers his own interest to justice. Thus we may truly 
say that pride was the cause of the death of J esus Christ. 

It is pride in the chief priests of the Jews that makes 
them cry out, " Let Jesus Christ be crucified," 1 for they 
fear that if He is liberated He will deprive them of the 
applause of the people and of their authority. It is pride 
also that inclines and urges Pilate to pass the unjust sen- 
tence. He would not have been so unjust if, instead of re- 
garding Caesar as the source of his power, he had acknowl- 
edged it to spring from a dispensation of Heaven, as Our 
Saviour had told him. And it is that same pride which, 
after exerting its influence in the condemnation of Jesus 

0) St. John xix, 15. 



422 PILATE CONSENTS TO JESUS' CONDEMNATION 

Christ, contributes more than anything else to the damna- 
tion of souls. 

Make me, my God! comprehend well this truth, that 
every sin springs from inordinate love and fear. I love 
myself too much, and anxiously endeavor to gratify myself 
in every vain desire. And what else in reality is this love, if 
not pride, which, while it puffs me up, degrades and ener- 
vates me, so that I can scarcely any longer do the slightest 
violence to myself. I love praise, I love honors, pleasures 
and all that can be denominated my own interest, How 
frequently am I more afraid of losing the vanities, which I 
love and desire, than the fear that I should have of Thy 
infinite Majesty? 

This spirit of pride with which I am possessed con- 
tinually lays snares for me, so much the more pernicious, 
as they are more secret ; but I know neither how to discern 
nor how to escape them. I only perceive that in propor- 
tion as my self-love burns more strongly within me, does 
the divine love grow colder. Ah, merciful J esus ! what 
remedy is there for my cowardice and misery? I would 
wish to fly with confidence to Thee; for who is there that 
is more worthy of mercy than a person who, like myself, is 
both miserable and proud? 

Nevertheless, encouraged by Thy goodness, I wish to 
pray to Thee, and I do pray. I behold in Thy Heart medi- 
cine for my disease; that is, Thy humility. Ah! regard 
not my unworthiness ; bestow upon me a little of Thy hu- 
mility, which is so necessary for me. 

Neither Pilate nor the Jews would have arrived at the 
enormous crime of putting to death the Son of God had 
they not considered pride to be of small consequence. I 
shall regard it as a very great evil, that I may fly it more 
than death. 

TV. Pilate fears the fury of the people, and the displeas- 
ure of Caesar, and prejudice to his own interest, if he 
should set Jesus Christ free. What, then, will he do, in 
order to act uprightly and gain control over his feelings? 
It is the duty of a good judge to have the trial justly 



PILATE CONSENTS TO JESUS' CONDEMNATION 423 

conducted before he pronounces sentence. Therefore, why- 
does he not endeavor to find proofs of the accusation and 
ascertain whether the presumed criminal be really guilty? 
To make oneself a king, soldiers, arms and money are 
requisite; where is there the slightest indication to justify 
the fear that Jesus wishes to make Himself king? He 
has only twelve Apostles, — uneducated persons. He lives 
a poor life. Even the house in which He dwells is not 
His own. The governor, stupefied and regardless of his 
obligations, makes no account of all this. A great fear 
overwhelms him, because intense pride blinds him. 

Is not this what ordinarily happens? In proportion as 
pride increases in a soul, that heavenly grace which en- 
lightens and inflames withdraws from it; so that, through 
its own fault, it remains in a frightful state of blindness 
and insensibility. The proud soul, wholly intent on its 
own interest, altogether neglects its duties; it no longer 
sees or loves what is right ; no longer does it think of justice, 
conscience, or of God. 

Unhappy state ! and I clearly perceive that in describing 
the character of the proud Pilate, I represent my own char- 
acter to myself. It is through pride alone that I daily fall 
into innumerable sins of omission and commission, and 
on account of it I may form to myself the most melancholy 
anticipations of falls and rises, irremediable and inter- 
minable. Therefore, since this causes me to dread every- 
thing that in any way looks like an offence against self, and 
perverts my judgment so as to fear nothing that is an 
offence against God, it is on account of this vice, if I do not 
labor to overcome it, that I may consider myself already 
placed among those sensual cowards who have precedence 
over all others in the catalogue of the reprobate. 

Thou seest, my God ! how vain I am through the in- 
ordinate love I entertain for vanity; and as there is none 
but Thyself who can assist me, I turn to Thee, to implore 
Thee to have pity upon me. I entreat Thee to take from me 
this fatal love, so that I may no longer love vanity, but 
truth, Ah, most merciful Saviour ! listen to my prayer, I 



424 JE8U8 CONDEMNED TO DIE ON THE CROSS 

do not say, hear me because I deserve to be heard; for I 
should be too rash and too arrogant if I spoke thus. My 
confidence is entirely placed in Thy goodness, charity, and 
mercy, which are infinite ; and it is on this account that I 
hope for and expect this grace from Thee. 

If the divine grace is forfeited by pride, it is, on the 
other hand, maintained by humility. To be humble is to 
my advantage, and this is the virtue that ought to be the 
most loved and desired by me. 



CHAPTER LVIII. 

JESUS CHRIST CONDEMNED TO DIE ON" THE CROSS. 

I. Pilate, seated on his tribunal, frees himself at last 
from all his perplexities, and finally makes up his mind to 
condemn Jesus Christ, notwithstanding the lights he has 
received, the remorse of his conscience, and the proofs he 
has had of His innocence. What drives him to so palpable 
an injustice? He has a political end in view; namely, to 
satisfy and tranquillize the people, and to avoid losing 
Caesar's favor. Thus write the Evangelists, that it may be 
known that Jesus Christ was innocent, and that there was 
no cause to condemn Him for any fault, and that He had 
to die for no other cause than the salvation of the world, 
as Caiphas had said. 

Thus the unjust and cruel sentence is pronounced by the 
governor, that Jesus of Nazareth shall be put to death on 
the cross. In uttering it he trembles from head to foot, as 
if he were not a judge who condemns, but a criminal who 
is condemned. He is horrified, through a movement of 
nature itself, which can not endure that the God of life 
should be condemned to death. With all this, he neither 
repents nor corrects himself, but abuses the power he has 
from God, to sign and ratify deicide. 

blind and wicked judge ! thy soul shall soon fall into 
the hands of that Man-God who is condemned by thee, and 



JESUS CONDEMNED TO DIE ON THE CROSS 425 



thou wilt be judged by Him and condemned to hell. But 
why should I become exasperated against Pilate? Every 
time that I have sinned mortally, have I not also sentenced 
J esus Christ to death, in spite of my faith and my remorse ? 
Why, then, am I not angry with myself ? In remembering 
my sins, I ought to conceive against myself so great a 
hatred as would never more allow me to be in peace with 
myself, since every sin of mine has come from loving my- 
self inordinately. The penance that I deserve is to hate 
myself. Thus the saints acted. They hated so much their 
own will and their own flesh, since it is both by the one and 
the other that we sin, that they constantly fought against 
them by self-denial and mortification. Thus I also should 
do in order to satisfy the divine Majesty and assure my 
eternal salvation. Still, instead of hating myself, I love 
myself to such a degree that it can not be surpassed. 

My God, who givest me light to know my obligations, 
give me moreover the strength to fulfil them. I am per- 
suaded that this hatred of myself is necessary to vanquish 
my dominant self-love. But as this also is a supernatural 
gift, which must emanate from Thee, how can I of myself 
attempt it, or hope for it, without the special assistance of 
Thy grace. Every virtue, every power, comes from Thee, 
not from man. Therefore, humbly kneeling at the throne 
of Thy greatness and clemency, I implore it. 

This self-hatred shall consist in interior and exterior 
mortification ; for both one and the other are necessary for 
me, in order to satisfy for my sins, and to preserve me from 
those which I may yet commit. 

II. The sentence of death having been pronounced 
against Jesus Christ in presence of all the Jewish magis- 
trates, it is written out, and the multitude is ordered to be 
silent that it may be publicly read aloud and heard by all. 
The words are read in a loud, distinct voice, " Let J esus of 
Nazareth be crucified," 1 and the rage of the Jews changes 
at once into immense joy. They all cry out, " Huzza, 
huzza !" and congratulate one another upon the victory they 

( l ) St, John xix ? 



426 JESUS CONDEMNED TO DIE ON THE CROSS 

have obtained, running hither and thither to divulge it, as 
if it were an item of most joyful news. Pilate has sinned 
by being unjust. Moreover, his injustice must be chiefly 
attributed to the Jews; in addition to this, what cruelty 
and ferocity is it in them to find so much delight in the 
thought of an innocent man being condemned to so painful 
and infamous a death ! 

See, my soul, to what a deplorable state the only-begotten 
Son of the Eternal Father is reduced, the model of all 
that is innocent and just, that He should not only be con- 
demned to death, but to a most hateful and terrible death. 
Condemned by a sentence in judgment, as if that death had 
been merited by Him. Condemned with universal delight 
and rejoicing, as if there had been question of delivering 
the city of a malefactor, the most seditious and scandalous 
in the world. 

Let us place ourselves in opposition to the Jews; and 
while they, blinded by malice, rejoice in impiety, let us 
exclaim with affections of admiration and compunction: 
Then is Jesus condemned for our sins! For our sins is 
Jesus, the Son of the Most High, condemned to death ! He 
in whom are contained the most precious treasures of grace 
and of the wisdom of God! Let us reflect well, my soul, 
what this means, that a God without sin has been con- 
demned to death for sin, and by serious reflection, let us 
excite ourselves to contrition. my most sweet J esus ! how 
deeply it grieves me to have sinned ; that is to say, to have 
offended Thee, who art so good a God ; and to have offended 
Thee for vain and transitory things of no account what- 
ever! to have offended Thee, while on account of Thy im- 
mense goodness and loveliness, I was bound to love Thee 
supremely ! I repent, and I am sorry for it, with my whole 
heart; and I wish that I had never done it, but now I am 
resolved never to sin again. I adore and bless and thank 
Thy infinite mercy. I abhor and detest my wretched 
malice, and I beg of Thee to assist me to destroy and an- 
nihilate sin by true repentance, through Thy most holy 
.grace, 



JESUS CONDEMNED TO DIE ON THE CROSS 427 

I shall offer to J esus Christ my hard heart, that He may 
make it penitent, humble, and contrite. Moreover, I shall 
implore of Him, by all His sorrows and merits, and by the 
sorrows and merits of Mary, His Virgin Mother, this im- 
mense favor. 

III. Jesus Christ stands before Pilate's tribunal in the 
condition of a criminal, while the sentence of His death is 
read. On hearing it, who could describe the affliction of His 
most tender Heart? Having taken on Himself the weak- 
ness of our nature, it can not be doubted that He suffered 
that torment and trembling and distress which those gen- 
erally experience who are condemned to die on the gibbet, 
and this much more, through His exceeding sensibility of 
feeling. But in the superior portion of His soul, in His 
reason, what magnanimous intrepidity is His? He seeks 
not to escape death; but, on the contrary, to meet it, as 
being about to conquer it. 

He might plead His reasons, He might complain of the 
injustice, might expostulate and appeal, but He does not 
do this. When, on one occasion, the Jews turned against 
Him with stones, He asked them why they wished to stone 
Him? And now He does not ask why they choose to 
crucify Him ? He offers no opposition, but is silent. He is 
angry neither with Pilate nor with the Jews. On the con- 
trary, He pities them. Though the sentence is unjust, He 
accepts it willingly, and consents that it should be executed ; 
because He is conscious that He has not to die for His own 
crimes, but for those of others. 

Behold, my soul, how marvelously we see united in J esus 
Christ the misery of man and the sublime power of God ! 
He is a God, who has come to redeem proud man by abjec- 
tion. But remark how things are arranged, that in the 
manner of this Redemption, the Majesty of the Redeemer 
may in no degree be degraded. It is in this Man-God that 
the divine wisdom has deigned to give us an example by 
which justly to regulate our life. But in meditating on the 
humility, the meekness, the patience, with which He re- 
ceives the sentence of His death, to deliver us from the 



428 JESUS CONDEMNED TO DIE ON THE CROSS 



sentence of an eternal death, from this example, in which 
He exercises the most sublime virtues, while suffering the 
loss of His life and of all that is most dear to Him, what 
can we learn ? 

Ah, my Jesus ! if it happens that a wrong or an affront 
is inflicted on me, of this occasion, ordained by Thee to 
humble me, and make me resemble Thee, I make use to 
break forth into acts of pride, anger, and scandal, to Thy 
displeasure. Ah! may it please Thee, my God! to 
strengthen me with Thy perfect spirit, by which I may be 
confirmed in the purpose of imitating Thee, and may love 
Thy honor more than my own; love more to give pleasure 
and satisfaction to Thee than to my own sensual appetites. 
May my glory be the power of glorifying Thee, by bearing 
the adversities which Thy loving providence may send me ; 
not so much to punish as to mortify and to save me. 

This is a hard saying, that it is necessary to bear dishonor 
with humility; but it will become sweet and easy if I re- 
member Jesus, who endured to be hated as an infamous 
man, in being sentenced to the cross. 

IV. All the circumstances of the condemnation of J esus 
Christ, by means of Pilate and the Jews, the oppressors of 
justice, truth, and innocence, must be considered as an 
effect of the divine plan for the completion of the work of 
the world's Eedemption. They are Jews and Gentiles, who 
condemn Him to die on the cross; but the decree of this 
death was already passed in heaven from all eternity. It 
was the Eternal Father, who, moved by mercy, gave up His 
Son as a victim to death, in order to satisfy His justice. It 
was also the Son, who approved the heavenly sentence, and 
filled with love for the Father and for us, offered Himself 
of His own will to death. 

If Jesus Christ had willed, He might have ordained in 
many ways that no one should have conspired for His 
death; but He preferred submitting to what was pre- 
ordained, and making Himself the Victim of charity and 
obedience. This deserves onr admiration, praise, and 
thanksgiving. Eternal Father! how greatly am I in- 



JESUS TAKES THE CROSS ON HIS SHOULDERS 429 



debted to Thy mercy, since to give life to me, a vile sinner, 
Thou hast condemned Thy most holy Son to death ! How 
much am I obliged, Eternal Son, to Thy love, seeing 
Thee so willingly accept the sentence to be crucified for me ! 
How much also am I indebted to Thee for Thy example 
by which Thou showest me how I am to save myself, whilst 
by Thy obedience Thou art meriting my salvation ! 

But when shall I begin, my Jesus ! really to return Thy 
love, principally by imitating Thee in Thy obedience ? Of 
this virtue I have immense need. I can obey in those things 
that suit my inclination ; but in those that are contrary to 
my opinion, my humor, or my sensual appetite, what ex- 
cuses do I not allege in order to be dispensed ! What com- 
plaints, in refusing to bend my stiff neck! 

most sweet Jesus ! when I behold Thee bend with rev- 
erence Thy divine head to the sentence of Pilate — a man 
without faith or justice — and with prompt obedience ven- 
erate in his power the supreme authority of the Father, I 
learn with what submission I ought to obey my superiors, 
whoever they may be, considering them always as holding 
Thy place. I also learn the necessity I have of Thy grace, 
to discipline my spirit, so proud and rebellious. This is 
the grace that I ask of Thee, Eternal Father, through the 
merits of that obedience with which Jesus Christ has in- 
finitely honored Thee, the grace to obey, and to renounce 
my will, in .submission to Thine, and for Thy love. 

1 shall examine what superiors, and on what occasions I 
have most difficulty in obeying, and I shall form my resolu- 
tion of obedience by reflecting whom Jesus obeys and in 
what He obeys. 



CHAPTEE LIX. 

JESUS CHRIST TAKES THE CROSS ON HIS SHOULDERS. 

I. When the sentence has been road, Jesus Christ is 
immediately consigned to the Jews, that they may proceed 
to His crucifixion when they please ; and the poor Victim, 



430 JESUS TAKES THE CROSS ON HIS SHOULDERS 



according to the words of the Prophet, is in their hands like 
a tender lamb in the jaws of an infuriated lion; like a 
village in the power of a cruel, victorious enemy. They 
would devour Him alive, if they could; and they impa- 
tiently long for His death. Hastily they prepare the cross. 
In the meantime, one abuses Him; another strikes Him; 
a third spits on Him; and He receives in peace every 
affront, giving up of His own free will to the indiscretion 
of His enemies, both His reputation and His life. 

They then remove the purple garment that He had on; 
but not the crown of thorns, which is left where it was, 
during the remainder of His Passion, that His pain may 
in nothing be diminished. What sayest thou, my soul, 
on beholding Jesus Christ again exposed to so impetuous a 
torrent of insults? The more the Jews see Him suffering 
and abased, the more they mock Him. But what are His 
sentiments ? 

Can these mysteries be meditated upon without compunc- 
tion, without humiliation ? Oh ! for faith, faith to firmly 
believe that Jesus Christ is the only-begotten Son of God, 
who has had for me an exceeding love, and has given Him- 
self up into the hands of His enemies, to suffer in all man- 
ner of ways for me. What means " for me ? 99 It means, 
to save me. Ah, with this faith must we not admire the 
love, admire the patience, admire the humility of a King 
reducing Himself to such a condition for the salvation of a 
slave? A God doing so for the salvation of man? The 
Creator for the salvation of the creature? The Innocent 
for the salvation of the sinner? 

most loving Jesus ! most patient J esus ! most 
humble Jesus ! to how much does Thy love oblige me ; to 
how much does Thy example bind me ? In return for Thy 
love, I will love Thee; and I will always love Thee more 
in return for Thy patience, through which while going to 
death, Thou dost not seek comforts, but art pleased to go 
crowned with thorns. I resolve to mortify in myself the 
inclination I have for a life of pleasure, and the aversion I 
have for suffering. In return for Thy humility, I resolve to 



JESUS TAKES THE CROSS ON HIS SHOULDERS 431 

imitate it by bearing the evil words which shall be spoken 
against me, since Thou hast especially merited by them 
for me the grace of courage. 

I shall reflect on these resolutions, and for the practical 
fulfilment of them, I will distrust myself entirely, plac- 
ing all my confidence in God alone, and interposing the 
intercession of the most blessed Virgin, 

II. Stripped of the purple robe of ignominy which He 
had on, Jesus Christ is left naked. Being naked is more 
ignominious a torment since He is in' the presence of an 
innumerable crowd assembled there to behold and mock 
Him, as an infamous Man, condemned to the gibbet of the 
cross. He is commanded to put on again His own tunic, 
that in the streets, when He is being led to death, He may 
be more easily recognized by all. Is He not worthy, in this 
painful confusion, to be compassionated by us, with most 
tender aifection? 

Behold, my soul ! this Man who in the quality of man is 
the most noble, the most innocent, the most loving of all 
men ; who was, moreover, a short time ago, the most beauti- 
ful and the most graceful of all; see how He is now man- 
gled and disfigured, with His flesh blackened by so many 
wounds, and by coagulated blood. What a trial for a person 
so modest, and honored, in the flower of His age to be 
stripped publicly, exposed to the eyes of these insolent 
wretches, with the character of a malefactor, worse than 
the street assassins ! 

Let us now consider who is this Man, and remark that 
He is true God, whose august Majesty is immense, eternal, 
and incomprehensible. Ah ! what condescension in a God, 
to have deigned to abase himself to the lowest degree of 
vileness, the nearest approach to mere nothing, as if He 
were a criminal deserving of punishment for His wicked- 
ness. But why did He choose to suffer this nakedness, so 
disgraceful to Him? 

I understand, my Jesus, Thou brightness of eternal 
light, in the refinement of Thy love, Thou wiliest that this 
time again I should behold Thee naked that I may see 



432 JESUS TAKES THE CROSS ON HIS SHOULDERS 



better, in every part of Thy most pure booVy, what Thou 
hast suffered for me ; how much Thou hast suffered in Thy 
most innocent flesh to save my most wicked flesh! Yes, I 
see, my Eedemption, my Mercy, my Salvation ! I praise 
and thank Thee; and because I know not in what manner 
to praise Thee, nor to thank Thee, either as I should, or to 
the extent that I ought, I beg Thee to supply for me, and 
compensate for all my tepidity with Thy merits. 

Give fervor to my heart, to excite me to a return of love 
to One who so greatly loves me. Give me the spirit to 
admire and imitate Thy humility which fills the angels 
with amazement, and the devils with terror. my Re- 
deemer ! I see how much Thou hast suffered for my love, 
and this is and shall always be the only object of my most 
fervent prayers : that Thy plentiful Eedemption may not be 
useless to me. I shall reflect on the inconstancy of my 
resolutions, of which I make many every day, but do not 
fulfil even one of them. I shall humble and recommend 
myself to Thee in my necessities. 

III. The blessed Jesus being clothed anew with His 
tunic, after the Jews have satiated themselves with loading 
Him with insults, they lead Him out into the public street, 
where the cross is ready. And if the instruments of death 
are concealed, as far as possible, from others who are going 
to be put to death, through some sort of compassion, that 
their affliction may not be increased by the sight of them ; 
to Jesus is presented without pity that cross to which He is 
to be nailed, that at the painful sight of it His soul may 
be crucified before His body is crucified. 

Ah ! if He fell into an agony in the garden, on represent- 
ing to Himself the cross at a distance, what will He do now 
that He has it palpably before His eyes? But since this 
same cross has also been the object of His ardent desires, 
insomuch that He was painfully eager and panting in the 
expectation of dying on it, for the salvation of the world, 
what joy also may we believe He experiences, now that He 
beholds it ready, after having desired it for three and thirty 
years ? 



JESUS TAKES THE CROSS 02\ T BIS SHOULDERS 433 



Reflect, my soul ! on the great horror and the immense 
love that J esus Christ has for the cross. By a movement of 
nature His feelings are terrified and afflicted, while by the 
force of His charity His courageous spirit rejoices. How 
can it be that we can love what we fear, and that the cross 
which is a sorrow can bring joy ? In Jesus Christ we have 
an example of this. He loves the cross, though it is pain- 
ful to Him, because He regards it as glorious to the Eternal 
Father and advantageous to us; as an instrument of our 
salvation; as a key, which will open for us an immense 
treasure of every good. He loves the cross, because He 
loves us ; and what doubt is there that the cross will also be 
lovely to us if we love Him ? 

most amiable Jesus! worthy spectacle of compassion 
and of imitation for me! I compassionate Thee in Thy 
most bitter anguish; but how can I imitate Thee in Thy 
joy ? I am altogether averse to voluntary suffering. When 
I foresee that some cross is about to come in my way, 
instead of preparing myself to await it and meet it virtu- 
ously, I wholly apply myself to think how I can manage to 
evade it. Ah, my God ! if I had a little love for Thee, as 
Thou hast so much for me, how sweet and delightful would 
every cross be to me? I have an aversion to the cross, be- 
cause the love of the flesh and of the world has dominion 
over me. Grant, Lord ! that I may love Thee, then I shall 
also love the cross, even so far as to make it my pleasure 
and my glory. 

1 shall persevere in asking for divine love, since the true 
reason for my loving sensuality and disliking suffering is 
this: I make profession of loving Jesus Christ, and in 
truth I do not love Him. 

IV. Jesus Christ takes the cross in His arms, as if it 
were presented to Him by His Eternal Father. He kisses 
it and presses it to His breast, saluting it as His delight 
and His treasure, because He has to accomplish upon it 
satisfaction for all our sins, which He has appropriated to 
Himself, as if they were His own. Then with alacrity He 



434 JESUS TAKES THE CROSS OX HIS SHOULDERS 

places it on His shoulders, in order to set out toward 
Calvary. 

But let us reflect on this mystery. At the moment that 
J esus Christ touched the cross with His deified Humanity, 
it instantly derived a divine virtue from the contact. 
It became immediately venerable to earth and to Heaven, 
terrible to the powers of hell. As long as the cross was in 
the hands of the executioners, there were about it a multi- 
tude of devils, enemies of our salvation ; but on the instant 
that it was in the hands of J esus Christ, they all fled away 
in terror and went headlong into hell. They who had been 
the first to swell with pride against God were the first to be 
humbled by the cross. 

Having in this manner considered the mystery, let us 
fall prostrate, my soul! to adore the holy cross, recog- 
nizing in it the remedy intended to heal all our evils, and to 
obtain for us all good, — spiritual, temporal, and eternal. 
For the cross of Jesus Christ let us entertain sentiments of 
esteem, reverence, and love. Eemembering that it shall 
appear on the Day of Judgment, for the consolation of the 
elect, and the terror of the reprobate, let us look upon it 
with fear, and now implore mercy through it, that we may 
profit by what Jesus Christ has suffered on it ; that it may 
not then provoke His justice against us. Most holy Cross ! 
consecrated by the loving kisses and embraces of the Son of 
God made Man, destined to serve as an altar for that most 
precious Sacrifice that is offered to the divine Majesty, for 
the Redemption of the world, I profoundly adore and 
salute Thee, and I beg of Thee now to be a place of refuge 
and a mediator of mercy for me, that I may avail myself of 
those graces that Jesus Christ has merited for me by His 
bitter Passion. I will not act like Adam, who, after hav- 
ing sinned, sought to fly from God and hid himself beneath 
the tree of the terrestrial Paradise. I have sinned and I do 
not fly. On the contrary, I take refuge and I am penitent 
under Thy shade, true Tree of Life ! because I find my 
God who loves and calls me and offers me pardon. Ah, 
venerable and most holy Cross! through that love with 



JESUS GOES WITH THE CROSS TO CALVARY 435 



which Jesus Christ embraces Thee, grant that a sincere 
spirit of penance may be bestowed upon me, by which I may 
dispose myself for the remission of my sins. 

I shall be devout to the sign of the cross, for the sake of 
what it represents, and by faith I shall make good use of it 
to obtain graces and blessings in all my actions, especially 
against temptations. 



CHAPTER LX. 

JESUS CHRIST GOES WITH THE CROSS TO CALVARY. 

I. The Jews make haste to put Jesus Christ to death, 
for fear that Pilate may alter the sentence he has pro- 
nounced ; but it is Jesus Himself who, with fervent charity, 
ordains that they should hasten, on account of the eager 
desire He has to accelerate our salvation by His death. 
Immediately, therefore, the two thieves, who are already 
condemned, are led forth to be executed with Him, in order 
that being thus accompanied by malefactors, He also may 
be considered by all as a malefactor. This had been fore- 
told by Our Saviour, and the truth of the prophecy is now 
fulfilled. 

The trumpets sound, and a confused cry is heard, as if 
of joy or mirth; and then the journey to Calvary is ar- 
ranged. One thief goes before, another follows behind, and 
Jesus Christ is in the middle. Each has his cross; but 
Jesus Christ, though His face can no longer be recognized, 
as it is all covered with filth and disfigured, is discerned 
by His usual dress, which is put on Him that He may be 
pointed at by all. 

Behold, my soul, thy Lord led forth, like another Abel, 
to be assassinated by His brother Cain. Like another 
Isaac, who is going to be sacrificed on the mountain. From 
the company of those thieves, which is assigned Him, draw 
reflections on the greatness of His ignominy and confusion. 
Oh, how different is His escort now, from that which five 



436 JESUS GOES WITH THE CROSS TO CALVARY 



days ago accompanied Him, carrying branches of olive 
in His honor ! Then He was proclaimed king, now He is 
reputed a thief. 

But what fruit shall I draw, my Jesus ! from beholding 
Thee between two thieves ? I see these men, though guilty, 
without a thought of grieving for their crimes ; they grieve 
only for the punishment that follows them. I see Thee, 
who, being innocent, lovest exceedingly the punishment, 
through the exceeding hatred which Thou hast for sin; 
and for sins that are not Thine, Thou willingly acceptest 
the cross. They carry it by force; Thou, through love. 
Am I an imitator of Thee or of the thieves ? 

I have sentiment enough to grieve over every adversity 
that befalls me, but to any grief for my sins I am utterly 
insensible. A trifling difficulty afflicts me and goes to my 
heart ; while with regard to the multitude of offences that 
I have committed against Thy divine Majesty, my God ! 
my heart remains quite calm, and feels not the slightest 
pain. What is this but to imitate the two thieves, not to 
imitate Thee? Ah! give me a new heart, most merciful 
Jesus ! and grant that I may no longer grieve over the 
crosses, but over the sins. Give me a sincere hatred of sin, 
and a true love of the cross ; so that I may willingly carry 
the cross in imitation of Thee in penance for my sins. 

Crosses are not wanting in this life. I shall be careful 
not to carry them like the thieves, through necessity, with- 
out merit. I will rather bear them for the love of God in 
imitation of Jesus Christ. 

II. In this journey through the city to Mount Calvary, 
we must consider how Jesus Christ behaves, and moreover 
how the Jews behave. Jesus, much fatigued and weakened 
by so many blows and all the ill-usage He has undergone ; 
by the quantity of blood that He has shed ; with His shoul- 
ders lacerated by the scourges ; and His sinews full of pain, 
so that He can scarcely stand ; exerts Himself to the utmost 
to carry the gibbet of the cross. But how often the cross 
strikes against the crown of thorns and causes Him excru- 
ciating pangs ! How many times, quite overcome, panting 



JESUS GOES WITH THE CROSS TO CALVARY 437 

for breath, He falls down and yields to the weight ! what 
patience He displays ! And who is there to compassionate 
Him? 

Instead of assistance, He receives from the executioners 
blows, kicks, and insults. Some in front pull Him forward 
with ropes, which they have tied around His waist and His 
neck. Others in the rear drive Him on with sticks and 
spears; some fall on Him with blows and reproaches, in- 
sulting and blaspheming Him. spectacle such as has- 
never elsewhere been seen or heard of! The impious 
wretches laugh and exult at beholding Him become the 
sport of the rabble ; in lieu of a sceptre, carrying the beam 
for His execution ; and chey say, " Learn what it is to make 
Thyself a king ! ,n With eyes of devotion and faith, let us 
admire the sublime mystery; in what manner the cross, 
which was esteemed disgrace and dishonor, is now the glory 
of religion! 

Much more, my soul! let us admire the charity of 
Jesus, which beams forth under the' cross, in His suffering 
so many outrages and insults for our eternal salvation. Let 
us keep Him company with acts of admiration, and still 
more with sentiments of compassion ; for what son, on hear- 
ing it said, " Thy father is being led to the scaffold by 
officers of justice," could help sighing, sobbing and 
weeping ? 

Jesus, the most loving and the most amiable of all 
fathers, my true Father, and more than Father, from 
whom I have my being, movement, and life! Certainly, 
it appears to me, that if I had been in Jerusalem and had 
beheld Thee, I could not, for the mere feeling of humanity, 
have been a tearless spectator of Thy many sufferings and 
ignominies. Would that I had had the happiness of being 
present at Thy Passion ! But how is it that now, with the 
light of faith, I meditate upon it, with a hard heart and 
with dry eyes? Ah, my most sweet Saviour! make me 
enter into the feeling of Thy pains, Thy charity, and 
patience, that I may be moved to compassionate Thee ; and 

(0 St. John xix. 



438 JESUS GOES WITH THE CROSS TO CALVARY 



compassionating Thee, may love Thee; and loving Thee., 
may be excited by love to imitate Thee. It is Thou who 
inspirest me to pray to Thee in this manner. Therefore, 
have the mercy to give me a favorable hearing. 

I shall resolve upon some particular act of humility, of 
patience, or of charity ; these being the virtues which Jesus 
Christ, beneath the burden of His cross, especially recom- 
mends to my imitation. 

III. The cross that Jesus Christ carries with unspeak- 
able meekness and patience, is long, thick and heavy. Let 
us penetrate the mystery herein enclosed. In taking the 
cross on His shoulders, He has taken all our sins upon 
Himself. This is an undoubted article of faith ; and when 
we say our sins, we understand the sins of the whole world. 
Consequently, as He carries in the cross a world of sins, oh ! 
how much more is He afflicted on account of the heavy 
burden of these, than of the cross? 

As there was neither man nor angel who had strength to 
take up so vast a load, it is true that for our salvation He 
spontaneously offered Himself to carry it. Notwithstand- 
ing, what fatigue and anguish does He suffer, beneath so 
many iniquities of every description? It is principally of 
this that He complains by the mouth of the Prophet, saying 
that sinners have raised up a high, long fabric on His 
shoulders. 

Pause here awhile, my soul, and reflect how much weight 
thou hast added to the cross of Jesus Christ by thy sins. It 
is inexpressibly heavy, on account of the sins of the whole 
human race ; but it would have been less heavy if thy sins 
had not been there to increase the weight. Eeflect well 
what thy sins are, in their number, their kind and their 
circumstances, as well of those committed by thyself, as 
those thou hast caused in others. Oh, what terror ! If in 
the world there had been no other sins but thine, how heavy 
would the cross of Jesus Christ have been with thine only. 
Thou art too hard-hearted, too cruel, my soul, if this 
thought does not move thee to compassion and contrition. 

Oh, yes ! most patient Jesus ! I do compassionate Thee in 



JESUS GOES WITH THE CROSS TO CALVARY 439 

the distress and pain which Thou sufferest, not so much 
beneath the cross of wood, as under that of my sins. The 
Jews have done little in Thy Passion in comparison with 
what I have done. It is I, I, who, by my wickedness, load 
and crush Thee down most grievously and make Thee groan 
and sigh. And who will give tears to my eyes, to weep 
night and day over my malice? If the Jews have merited 
one hell, I deserve a thousand. But, ah, regard not, 
Lord ! my sins but myself, who, though I am the least of all, 
have been created by Thee — redeemed by Thee. Take pity 
on me, and exercise upon me Thy mercies, not Thy ven- 
geance. I will never more offend Thee. I have resolved to 
keep Thy holy Commandments, and I promise Thee that I 
shall keep them inviolably. But what am I saying about 
resolutions and inviolable promises? Blind and miserable 
wretch that I am ! in what can I be sure of myself in my 
state as man, who is like grass, which flourishes, and soon 
fades; and like a shadow in the sun's rays, which never 
remains stationary ? I ought to , say that I shall never 
offend Thee again, my God ! with the help of Thy grace, 
which I beg of Thee, through the merits of Thy holy Pas- 
sion, not to refuse me. 

I shall draw the conclusion, how great and terrible an 
evil sin is, since being laid upon the Son of God made Man, 
it caused Him such intense anguish and distress. I will 
repeat the act of contrition. 

IV. The news having gone forth of the condemnation of 
Jesus Christ, the streets through which He passes are 
crowded with people. Every one abhors Him and speaks 
against Him, and no one comprehends the mystery. Of 
those very persons who lately applauded His glorious ac- 
tions, some say with pleasure : " It is all right that this 
good-for-nothing fellow should be punished;" others ex- 
claim in surprise : " Who would have thought that He was 
a wicked man, He who appeared so holy ? " Again others 
followed Him with curiosity to see Him perhaps work some 
miracles. What confusion for Him to behold Himself in 
such strangely altered circumstances. A short time -pre- 



440 JESUS GOES WITH THE CROSS TO CALVARY 

viously, so honored and blessed even by children ; now so 
despised and accursed by all, through the infamy and male- 
diction which He bears in the cross. 

Enter, my soul, with reverent mind, into the interior of 
Jesus and see how He, the Fountain of all benediction, is 
content to be thus accursed. With what immense love for 
the Eternal Father does He humble Himself to suffer this 
ignominy for His glory ! With how great love for us does 
He take upon Himself all these maledictions to deliver us 
from the temporal and eternal malediction which we have 
merited by our sins ! Having His mind set upon this sole 
object — the accomplishing of the world's Redemption — 
He pays no attention to what is said of Him; He has no 
human respect ; He makes no account of the confusion, and 
goes cheerfully onward with the cross. Oh, what joy is in 
His Heart ! This is so marvelous in the divine displeasure 
that each suffering increases the joy of His charity; though 
by this joy His sense of pain is in no manner diminished. 

I lose myself in the abyss of Thy mysteries, my 
Saviour ! In the meantime, I do not think of profiting by 
Thy example. Oh, what an excellent lesson is this for me ! 
Thou art not ashamed to be seen by all with the crown of 
thorns on Thy head and a cross on Thy shoulders, like a 
criminal between two thieves; because Thou thinkest of 
nothing but of obeying Thy heavenly Father in the work 
of my Redemption. But do I follow this example? Not 
unfrequently am I ashamed of appearing obedient, some- 
times to Thy precepts; at others, to Thy counsels. I fear 
to debase myself by patience, modesty, and humility. I 
know not how to bear even a slight for Thy love, and readily 
yield to every shadow of human respect. 

Vile, worthless coward that I am ! Ah, my Jesus ! 
strengthen me by Thy strong sweetness, that I may be never 
more ashamed to carry the cross of Christian observance. 
Thy cross consists in doing what I ought, and I will do it 
cheerfully. It consists moreover in suffering what it pleases 
Thee that I should suffer ; I will suffer without repugnance. 



JESUS GOES WITH THE CROSS TO CALVARY 441 

But whether it be doing or suffering, nothing except Thy 
love can make it sweet to me. 

I shall reflect on what appears difficult to me in obeying 
the will of God, and on what occasions human respect has 
the greatest ascendency over me; and I will come to an 
efficacious resolution on some particular points. 

V. Let us with reverence approach Jesus Christ, to ask 
Him whither He is going with that cross, and for what pur- 
pose. And He will answer, that He is performing an act of 
obedience, and is going to set up this tree in opposition to 
the other, by which Adam, through disobedience, sinned. 
charity, wisdom, worthy of a God, and proper only to a 
God ! Adam tasted the fruit of that tree, which was to us 
the tree of death; and God, with an eye of compassion, has 
chosen the tree of the cross, that it may be for us the tree 
of life. The devil made use of a tree to ruin the world, and 
now Jesus Christ makes use of a tree to save it. He goes 
to pay on a tree the debt contracted by means of a tree. He 
makes a remedy of the same material whence the poison 
issued, and triumphs over the infernal enemy with the 
same weapon with which the wicked one had first con- 
quered. 

See, my soul, and admire the charity of Jesus, who, 
though the scourges and the thorns would have sufficed to 
make our Eedemption plentiful, has willed also to suffer 
the cross. See and admire His wisdom, by which He makes 
use of the cross, as the most vile thing in the world, to per- 
form the most magnificent of His undertakings; that is, 
our eternal salvation. See, how with His eyes raised to 
His Father, He protests that the mysteries of His cross are 
hidden from the proud, and revealed only to the humble. 
Thus it is. In the cross are contained the mysteries of 
truth, of sanctity, and of every happiness ; but they are not 
understood except by one who is humble. I at least should 
understand this; if I comprehend little or nothing of the 
Passion of Jesus Christ, it is owing to my pride alone. I 
understand something of the exterior Passion, that it is 
which most strikes the imagination ; but I understand noth- 



442 JESUS GOES WITH THE CROSS TO CALVARY 



ing of the virtue of the Passion, which is concealed from 
the proud. 

My J esus ! who didst once give sight to a blind man, by 
putting mire upon his eyes, enlighten me also in the same 
manner, making me humble by the knowledge of my mis- 
eries. Meanwhile, blind as I am, I deplore my wickedness, 
and while, on the one hand, I reflect how much Thou art 
doing, and how Thou art laboring to accomplish the work 
of my salvation; and, on the other hand, how much I am 
doing and laboring to destroy it, I am astounded and ex- 
claim : " How is this, that instead of cooperating with the 
merits of Thy Passion, by imitating Thy virtues, I, on the 
contrary, render them useless to myself by my vicious 
life ? " Where one builds and another destroys, what is 
gained? My Jesus, my God! prevent me in this ruinous 
work. I ask of Thee humility, which is the first fruit of 
Thy cross. If I gain this, everything will be gained. 

If I reap no other fruit from this meditation, let me at 
least learn that it is on account of my pride that I profit by 
nothing. I shall detest this vice, reflecting what lights and 
flames would be kindled in me, if I were humble. 

VI. One of the most acute sufferings that Jesus Christ 
had to endure in going to Calvary, we may believe was the 
meeting with His most blessed Mother. She was carried 
away by her love and by her grief, overwhelmed with sor- 
row, regardless either of the crowd or of the soldiers. She 
is waiting for Him outside the city, and she can scarcely 
support the delay till He arrives. She hears the blas- 
phemies as they approach, and the blows they inflict upon 
Him to hasten Him on the way, and at last she sees Him 
coming, crowned with thorns, bearing His cross, between 
two thieves, bound and dragged without pity or discretion. 
Mary ! how is it that thy soul was not torn from thy body 
at such a sight? The eyes of the Mother and of the Son 
meet ; and unable to speak a word to each other, on account 
of the eagerness with which the Jews are hurrying on, they 
converse heart to heart. 

My. soul, what should we hear, if we qould listen to the 



JESUS GOES WITH THE CROSS TO CALVARY 443 



voice of these hearts ? " Dear Son/' Mary says, " mv 
dear Son!" "Dear Mother/' says Jesus, " 6 my dear 
Mother ! " In saying this, the two hearts are so closely 
united and so penetrated by a mutual veneration of com- 
passion, that one can scarcely be distinguished from the 
other. They communicate their griefs reciprocally; and 
one takes those of the other, without either being deprived 
of that which is its own. Mary feels all the sorrow of 
Jesus; and Jesus experiences all the grief of Mary. new 
cross ! new dolorous Passion ! 

I know, my Jesus! that Thy Heart is exceedingly 
great ; but since It is so full of bitter afflictions, how canst 
Thou receive into It that flood of tormenting anguish which 
is poured into It from the heart of Thy Mother ? I am not 
capable of understanding these secrets ; but if my mind can 
not comprehend them, how is it that I have not a heart to 
pity ? Mary ! where art thou ? I behold thee absorbed in 
the Passion of thy Son, and as in this state I behold thee 
overflowing with mercy, in that thou art thus afflicted for 
miserable sinners, I humbly entreat thee to soften by thy 
mercy my poor heart, that it may shed over the suffering 
J esus, along with thee, at least one tear of sympathy. 

Impart to my soul the compassionate sentiments of thine, 
that 1 may worthily sympathize with thy Son. happy 
me ! if I could enter with thee into a partnership of sorrow ! 
I value more one drop of thy sorrows than the whole torrent 
of worldly delights. Look well, my soul ! first at J esus, then 
at Mary; and entering into their intense afflictions caused 
by my sins, give vent to devout emotions of mingled com- 
passion and contrition. Oh, how sorrowful is J esus ! Oh, 
how sorrowful is Mary! But how much more sorrowful 
are both the one and the other for my sins than for all the 
rest of His painful Passion! 

I shall reproach myself for my want of devotion to Our 
Lady of Sorrows. I shall resolve to accompany her, and 
imitate her in following the different phases of the Passion, 
recommending myself to her intercession. 



444 



JESUS ASSISTED BY THE CY RENE AN 



CHAPTER LXI. 

JESUS CHRIST ASSISTED BY THE CYRENEAX TO CARRY HIS 

CROSS. 

I. The Jews, perceiving that Jesus Christ, through 
fatigue and grief, is quite overcome and falls to the ground 
from time to time, oppressed with the heavy weight He has 
to bear, resolve to lighten it by calling some one to assist 
Him in carrying His cross. This is not done through pity, 
but through cruelty; because, in the first place, they fear 
that He may perchance die on the road, and they do not 
wish to see Him die any other than the ignominious death 
of the cross. Then, in the second place, being so heavily 
loaded, He goes too slowly, and they have a savage eagerness 
to crucify Him as quickly as possible. 

Therefore, they seek for some one to assist Him. But no 
one is to be found. With abhorrence all refuse, not only to 
carry the cross, but even to touch it, as this is considered a 
public sign of infamy. The Jews refuse to help Him, be- 
cause they think that in doing so they would share in a 
malediction, by having any communication with a con- 
demned man. The Gentiles also refuse, looking on it as a 
dishonor to put their hand to the cross, as one would feel 
with respect to a gibbet. His disciples are dispersed 
through fear, and no one knows where they are. So that, 
as so many thousands surrounding Him hold back, per- 
ceiving a stranger in the city, from Cyrene, by force they 
stop him and oblige him to place himself beneath the cross, 
behind the poor Sufferer. 

My soul ! compassionate thy Saviour, so sorrowful, so 
distressed and abandoned; and reflect how this scene is 
continually enacted again and again in the world. When 
there is question of suffering for Jesus Christ, what pre- 
texts, what excuses does the sensual appetite invent? 
Every man of the world flies the cross and is an enemy to 
it; some through pride, others through sloth. But let us 
not go out of our way to examine what others do; but let 
us attend to ourselves. 



JESUS ASSISTED BY THE CY RENE AM 



My Jesus! what is my confusion in seeing that Thou 
willingly bearest this heavy cross, which is due to me by my 
sins, and that, at the same time, Thou beholdest in me ex- 
cessive fear of every cross however light and trifling it may 
be, and my unwillingness to carry it for Thy love. Ah, 
Thou who art God, Lord of the universe ! dost carry for me 
that cross of immense suffering, and I, vile wretch! who 
am but a handful of dust drawn from nothing, will not 
go out of my way to suffer anything for Thee. Wnat pride, 
to value myself more than Thee ! To esteem my flesh and 
the world more than Thee ! In order to become worthy of 
Thy mercy, my God ! I confess my sinful misery. Oh, 
help me by Thy holy grace, and give me a new spirit, a 
spirit of strength, that I may no longer have a horror, but 
rather a love for the cross. It is impossible that I should 
have a sincere love for Thee, so long as I love not Thy 
cross also. 

A resolution to bear the cross with Jesus Christ. I shall 
reflect that every mortification, whether interior or ex- 
terior, that is practised for Jesus Christ, is the cross of 
Jesus Christ. 

II. From the time that Jesus Christ delivered Himself 
into the hands of His enemies, He has, until the present, 
willed to be alone in all His sufferings. On this account, 
when He was apprehended in the garden, He commanded 
that His Apostles should be free, that He might be alone 
amidst both the torments and the insults. He had no need 
of companions to assist Him in redeeming the world, as He 
had no need of them to create it. It is only in carrying the 
cross that He admits of company; and it is not by chance 
that the Cyrenean has joined Him, but by a high counsel 
and mystery. 

Jesus Christ is Man and at the same time God. The 
Divinity never having been separated from the Humanity, 
it is certain that He could by a miracle have given to His 
wearied body strength and vigor to carry the cross as far as 
Calvary, without further assistance. Although He wrought 
miracles to sustain the weakness of His flesh, that He might 



446 JESUS ASSISTED BY TEE CY RENE AN 



not die of suffering either under the strokes of the scourges 
or by the pain of the sharp thorns, He works no miracle 
beneath the load of the cross, and gives way as a person 
in need of succor. Thus does He invite each one of His 
faithful followers to carry it, and repeats, by His example, 
what He has already said to all, that whoever will come 
after Him must carry the cross. 

Eeflect, my soul, how Jesus Christ desires that we should 
bear Him company in suffering under the cross, through 
the wish that He has that we should moreover be His com- 
panions in the enjoyment of His glory. To carry the cross 
with Him is not for us a counsel; it is a necessity, if we 
would be saved. 

Thus has God ordained in His eternal decrees that we are 
to serve Him both by bravely offering our shoulders to bear 
the cross, and by bearing it with a willing heart for His 
love. Nevertheless, what do we do ? 

I render thanks to Thee, my J esus ! for the love with 
which Thou deignest to receive me into the company of 
Thy elect, who carry the cross with Thee. And how can I 
ever again entertain an aversion for the cross, when I bear 
in mind this sweet thought, that under the cross of 
afflictions and sufferings Thou art always with me ? Thou 
consolest me by telling me that the way of the cross will 
end, but that that most blessed glor}^, which Thou hast 
promised me, will never end. However greatly my delicacy 
may complain of the cross, oh ! how charmingly does hope 
refresh my mind ? But I have need, Lord ! of Thy love ; 
because without it, what cross can be of the slightest use to 
any one, for the obtaining of an eternal reward ! Unhappy 
me! how many crosses have I heretofore carried without 
merit; because I have carried them without reflection, 
neither to obey Thee nor to please Thee, my God ! Give 
me strength that I may have patience in crosses, and give 
me also a willing heart to carry them constantly for Thy 
love. Be they crosses of necessity, which it may please 
Titfe to send me,- or of my own- choice as Thou mayest be 



JESUS ASSISTED BY THE CYEENEAN 



447 



pleased to inspire me, grant that I may submit willingly to 
all for Thy love. 

If I had been present when some one was looked for to 
assist Jesus Christ in carrying the cross, methinks that I 
should have willingly offered myself. I shall now offer 
myself ; and my disposition will be acceptable to Jesus. 

III. I shall represent Jesus Christ to myself as my 
King, who in the cross bears the ensign of His new king- 
dom. The princes of the world have as their emblem of 
greatness either the diadem on their head or the sceptre in 
their hands. Jesus Christ has the cross on His shoulders. 
The Prophets had said that the Messiah should bear His 
government upon His shoulder ; and that His power should 
not consist in gold, but in a tree. The prophecies have been 
perfectly fulfilled. By the cross, He has subjugated hell 
and triumphed over His enemies, and extended the king- 
dom of His Church militant and triumphant. 

Behold then, my soul! thy King, who on the road to 
Calvary goes before, and turns around to let us know by 
His words and example that he who will follow Him must 
carry the cross with Him. He constrains no one, but in- 
vites; He does not invite some only, but all — ecclesiastics 
and seculars, high and low. He declares that for our salva- 
tion it is not sufficient that He should carry His cross ; but 
our cooperation is necessary in carrying ours for ourselves 
as well. 

Who will not admire the merciful justice and the just 
mercy of God? Jesus Christ has satisfied for us to the 
utmost rigor of justice, and has applied to us all His 
merits. He requires nothing of us except that we also 
should follow Him with ovt cross. Could He have done 
more for us, or exacted less from us, that we might gain 
His heavenly kingdom, not on the ground of mercy only, 
but moreover by right of justice? What cross can be so 
heavy for us as His was for Him? 

my Jesus, how good art Thou, to be willing to bring 
me into Paradise at so small a cost ! When all things are 
well considered, I see that the cross which I carry in order 



448 JESUS AtitiltiTED BY THE CY RENE AN 



to go to hell is very much heavier than that which Thou 
layest on me to guide me to heaven. Ambition, envy, 
hatred, vengeance, luxury, gluttony, and so many other evil 
passions of mine, I can not deny to be crosses of pain and 
suffering to me, and to what end am I tending with them, 
but to an eternity of despair? On the contrary, I know 
that humility, charity, chastity, temperance, patience, and 
so many other lovely virtues are sweeter and lighter crosses. 
Moreover, by following them, I am convinced that I shall 
attain to a blessed eternity. Still what madness to prefer 
rather to damn myself with painful crosses, than to save 
myself with those that are sweet? my King and my 
God! may Thy grace come to me with its unction and 
strength, to carry me away, and I shall follow Thee every- 
where with the crosses of the Gospel. 

I shall ask of Jesus His love, as all depends on that. I 
have no difficulty in carrying the crosses of the flesh and 
of the world, because I love the flesh and the world. I shall 
also carry the cross of Jesus Christ, if I love J esus Christ. 

IV. The Cyrenean, beholding himself forced to carry 
the cross of Jesus Christ, complains at first and resists and 
bears it unwillingly on account of the dishonor and the 
violence which the Jews unjustly do him. But scarcely has 
he touched that sacred tree, than feeling himself both en- 
lightened in his mind by a celestial light, and strengthened 
in his heart by a sovereign virtue, his thoughts and feelings 
are suddenly changed. Obedient to grace, he places him- 
self beneath the cross, with a holy patience. He humbly 
reckons himself unworthy of it, and carries it with love and 
merit; so that it appears to him there exists not in all 
the world a tree equal to it in charming sweetness. 

Thus it happens to any one who knows how to make use 
of faith, to believe the treasures that are contained in the 
cross; or of hope, to expect the treasures that have been 
promised to us by the cross. Every affliction is changed 
into joy, and no pain is experienced from that which is 
done for love. But I am anxious, my soul, that this word — 
the cross — should be understood by thee. What is it to 



JESUS ASSISTED BY THE CYRENEAN 449 



carry the cross of Jesus Christ? Nothing else than to 
mortify the depraved tendency of our affections and of our 
senses, and especially of our proud self-love. I shall apply 
myself to the reformation of the old man, by self-denial; 
and to laboring for the acquisition of virtues. I shall al- 
ways esteem more the eternal goods of heaven than the 
perishable joys of the world. In prosperity I shall keep 
my soul prepared to bear adversity with resignation to the 
divine Will. 

This language is hard, but it is true. For our encourage- 
ment, can we say that the example of Jesus is of small ac- 
count, as He goes forward with His cross to animate us? 
Shall we call little the reward of eternal bliss, which will be 
bestowed upon him that shall carry his cross as a Christian ? 
My soul! thou wouldst desire to have the suffering today, 
and the reward tomorrow; but be in no hurry; let thy 
hope be accompanied with patience, and the reward is 
certain. 

Ah, my God ! all this is good, all true ; but I distrust in 
myself the rebellion of the senses, which can not be recon- 
ciled to the e^oss. Bad habits have so weakened and ener- 
vated me that I have scarcely any vigor left to tread the 
road of virtue, and Thou seest the extreme need I have of 
Thy grace. Ah, then, my Jesus ! Thou, who hast promised 
me glory if I follow Thee with the cross, Thou, who even 
when I do not follow Thee, so mercifully waitest for me, 
grant me the gift of Thy love, that by it I may love Thy 
cross also. Cause me to obtain what Thou causest me to 
desire. I know that Thou, the God of strength, dost not 
abandon but dost comfort him that hopes in Thee. In 
Thee I shall trust, in Thee I do trust, my King and my 
God! 

It is not sufficient to carry the cross, but we must also 
follow Jesus Christ. To this end, I shall give my utmost 
attention, for in many things I mortify myself through 
human motives, and the love of Jesus Christ has nothing 
to do with it. 



450 DAUGHTERS OF JERUSALEM PITY JESUS 



CHAPTER LXIL 

JESUS CHRIST PITIED BY THE DAUGHTERS OF JERUSALEM. 

I. As Jesus Christ proceeds on His way with His cross 
to Calvary, a great multitude of people follow; some to 
deride, others to pity Him. Among them are a few 
women, who are tenderly moved and weep to see Him so ill- 
treated, worse than the two thieves. Jesus Christ raises up, 
as if He were not the sufferer whom they commiserate, and 
turning to them says, with an intrepid voice, that they 
should not mourn and weep for Him. 

Behold, my soul ! how Jesus on the way sheds blood from 
His wounds; but He will not allow tears to be shed for 
Him. He thus makes Himself known for what He is. 
" Why weep for Me, My daughters ! " He would ex- 
claim, " since this is the day of My royal magnificence, the 
day of My nuptials, of My joys. I come to bring to the 
world, with this cross, universal gladness. He who is led 
to die by force is an object of tears; but to Me, who die by 
My own will, compassion is not due, but rather admiration, 
because if I die, I shall soon rise again, triumph over death, 
and destroy the very author of death which is sin." 

my Jesus ! nevertheless, how immensely does Thy glad- 
ness cost Thy Humanity! But how ardent must be the 
charity of Thy Heart, since so many impetuous torrents of 
suffering and ignominies are not only inadequate to ex- 
tinguish it, but rather inflame it more and more ! Thou 
goest, it is true, voluntarily to death, with the full power 
of laying down' and of taking up again Thy life. How is it 
that on this account Thou dost not choose that others 
should weep for Thee amid the torments and insults that 
Thou art made to suffer? 

1 admire and praise the excess of Thy great charity, and 
I offer Thee in thanksgiving all the glory and all the bene- 
dictions that are given Thee, by all creatures on earth and 
in heaven. Ah ! let me weep, or rather I should say, make 
me weep over Thy Passion, and so weep with loving tender- 



DAUGHTERS OF JERUSALEM PITY JESUS 



ness that I may rejoice to shed tears for Thee, as Thou 
rejoicest to shed Thy blood for me. 

Oh, how delicious is that sweetness that is felt in weep- 
ing for Thy sacred Passion ! He knows it who experiences 
it. I implore Thee to give me also some little taste of it 
that I may feel myself excited always to love Thee more and 
more by thus reasoning with myself: If it is so sweet to 
weep in this life for Thee, what shall it be, my Jesus ! to 
enjoy Thee in life eternal? If it is sweet to suffer for 
Thee, what shall it be to rejoice in Thee, and with Thee in 
Thy glory? 

With acts of humility I shall consider myself unworthy 
of Thy divine consolations; and if it please Our Lord to 
give me any, I shall resolve to make a good use of them; 
that is, by keeping alive the spirit of devotion and prayer 
by their means. 

II. Jesus Christ under the cross desires that all should 
see the vastness of His unparalleled sorrows, that His 
patience also being apparent, He may appear to all an 
object worthy of compassion. Nevertheless, He tells the 
women not to weep over Him ; not because He is displeased 
to be commiserated, but to give us to understand that His 
Passion is not so much a matter to be wept over as is the 
cause of that Passion, which is sin. That there is not so 
much reason to weep over Him who suffers; that is, over 
the Saviour, as over him for whom He suffers ; namely, the 
sinner. Therefore, He adds that they had better weep for 
themselves and for their children. 

Jesus Christ seeks and waits for some one to pity Him in 
His sufferings, but He desires that he should have the same 
motive in pitying as He has in suffering. He suffers for 
our sins; and it is with our attention fixed on these that 
He should be commiserated. " Weep, then," He seems to 
say to us also, " weep not for Me, as if I were going to die 
for Myself, but because I am going to die for you, in satis- 
faction for the iniquities that have been committed by you. 
I commend the love that you bear Me, but you should 
rather have zeal for your own souls, and those of your neigh- 



452 DAUGHTERS OF JERUSALEM PITY JESUS 



bors. For after all, the sufferings that I endure for sin 
have an end; whereas the pains that are impending over 
sinners will be eternal/' 

Let ns reflect on the object of our zeal, which must be 
sin; and also on the order that Jesus Christ prescribes for 
us to observe. For in telling the women to weep, in the 
first place, over themselves and, then, over their children, 
He moreover gives us the lesson that before we exercise zeal 
toward others, we must first direct it to ourselves, carefully 
examining ourselves. To whom is this admonition more 
properly addressed than to me? Who is more miserable 
than a wretch who has not sense enough to grieve over his 
own miseries ? Such a one am I, ready to make a show of 
zeal for others ; while I have no zeal for myself, who am the 
most vicious of all. I behold motes in the eyes of others, 
and I do not see beams in my own. Various slight defects 
in others, I regard as grievous; and how many sins do I 
commit in which there is indeed serious matter, but which 
I pass over as things of no consequence? I wish to see 
others repent and amend, and I take no pains about my own 
repentance and amendment. I hear, my Jesus! Thy 
voice, saying to my heart that I ought to weep over my own 
soul. But ah ! Thou who knowest my infirmity and hast 
a remedy for it, in mercy apply it. By Thy holy love, there 
is a remedy for everything ; and this is all the good that 1 
can desire for my soul ; namely, to please Thee, to obey 
Thee, and to live to Thee in Thy love for all eternity. 

This is the order of charity and zeal by which I should 
render the Passion of Jesus Christ fruitful to myself be- 
fore others. I shall imprint on my mind this lesson, given 
me by my Saviour in His journey to Calvary. 

III. Jesus Christ perceiving the pity that these women 
feel for Him, is moved also with compassion for them ; and 
though their commonplace tears are of little value, as 
springing from nature, not from faith, nevertheless, He 
accepts them graciously. Out of regard for that sorrow 
which has the character of humility. He rewards their com- 



DAUGHTERS OF JERUSALEM PITY JESUS 453 



passion by placing before them motives to excite compunc- 
tion in their hearts. 

" My Passion," He says, " is far, far less a subject of 
lamentation than those persons who do not profit by that 
Passion. My Passion will be more hurtful to you than to 
Me, if while I suffer so much for the satisfaction of your 
sins, you will not do penance for these same sins. Your 
perfidy shall be punished by an eternity of torments. A 
time shall come, My children, that will be for sinners a time 
of mourning, calamity and despair ; and blessed shall he be 
that shall have taken care to mortify himself. Weep not, 
therefore, on seeing Me go to death in the character of Re- 
deemer. Weep for the time when I shall come with the 
majesty of an inexorable Judge to exercise My severity." 

Come, my soul, and learn how immense is the mercy of 
thy Saviour, since though He is oppressed in body and mind 
and soul, by such heavy sorrows, as if forgetful of Himself, 
He applies Himself entirely to render His Passion effica- 
cious for the salvation of those souls who pity Him, giving 
them the most powerful admonitions and inspirations that 
He possesses in the treasury of His infinite wisdom. Every 
tender affection of ours is exceedingly precious to the suffer- 
ing Jesus, but as our thoughts on the Passion ought not to 
stop at a sterile feeling of compassion, without coming to 
imitation, this is the method we must follow. 

What shall become of me, my Redeemer! in Thy tre- 
mendous judgment, if I do not profit by Thy example ? By 
following Thee with the cross, bearing adversities and 
mortifying myself for Thy love, I am certain that I shall 
be saved. But by rejecting the cross and following my 
sensual appetites and the customs of the world, what can I 
expect but to be numbered with those despairing souls, of 
whom Thou hast said, that in hell they shall call upon 
death, and shall never be able to die ? I see that from Thy 
Passion, simply on account of my sloth, I draw no fruit 
whatever. Therefore, I fear that I shall be damned. In- 
stead of advancing in virtue, I have done nothing until this 
present time but multiply my sins. My God, filled with 



454 DAUGHTERS OF JERUSALEM PITY JESUS 

confusion I throw myself prostrate on the ground, to cry 
for mercy. I beg of Thee to give me a share in that grace 
which Thou hast merited for me, and by which Thou seest 
not only that I shall be able to cooperate, but that I shall in 
effect cooperate with Thy sacred Passion. 

I shall frequently remember, that on imitating or not 
imitating Jesus Christ depends the question, whether my 
last things, — death, judgment, and eternity, are to be con- 
soling or terrible. 

IV. Let us contemplate Jesus Christ speaking as He 
does to the daughters of Jerusalem, not with a feeble voice 
like a man of sorrows, but with sustained emphasis, as if He 
were preaching in the Temple. Does it appear as though 
He were on His way to die, and that only one half hour re- 
mains for Him before He will be crucified ? He utters not 
a word of complaint for Himself, not a word of sympathy 
for His afflicted Mother. All zeal and charity, He does 
nothing but exhort these unhappy souls to do penance for 
their sins, that they may be delivered from eternal tor- 
ments. 

" Look at Me well, dear souls," He says, " and reflect on 
yourselves. For if I am punished with so much severity 
for sins not My own, what shall be done to you for sins that 
are yours indeed ? The Day of Judgment will come with- 
out fail, and you shall be judged with severity if you have 
not availed yourselves of My merits to obtain pardon. If 
the fire of the divine wrath is so active in consuming My 
innocent Humanity, that resembles a green plant, what 
havoc will it make of you who are dry wood, without the 
sap or fruit of any sort of virtue ? " 

These words of Jesus Christ are terrible for every one 
who has sinned, and who does not bring forth fruits of 
penance. Either penance or hell. This is the sermon that 
He preaches to us whilst scourged, crowned with thorns, 
loaded with ignominies, He goes with His cross to Calvary. 
To oblige us to do penance, He shows us His wounds, what 
mercy is doing for us, and what His justice will one day do. 
It will not profit us to calculate in this manner : J esus has 



JESUS ARRIVES AT CALVARY WITH CROSS 455 

suffered for my salvation, therefore, I shall be saved without 
further trouble; because all that He has suffered in His 
holy flesh will not suffice to purge away my iniquity if I 
remain impenitent. 

Ah, my J esus ! who will not admire Thy boundless char- 
ity, by which not content with suffering so much for me, 
Thou laborest so ardently to make Thy Passion efficacious 
to me ? I see what Thou endurest, and I foresee what I shall 
have to suffer for eternity, if I do not look after myself. 

But what shall I do, who am indeed dry wood, good for 
nothing? I humble myself before Thee, my God! who 
alone hast the power to cause the most barren of trees to 
blossom and to fructify. Give me strength to perform with 
gladness the penance that Thou inspirest me to do. If I 
knew that the sacrifice of my life would be acceptable to 
Thee, I would by Thy grace offer it to Thee; but since I 
know that what pleases Thee the most of all, as being more 
worthy of Thee, is contrition of heart, behold me here griev- 
ing and repentant for having offended Thee. Satisfy Thy 
justice, Eternal Father ! by the Passion of Jesus Christ, 
and by His merits, grant that I may unite myself to Him 
in the spirit that He has united Himself to me — in my 
flesh. May I become intimately united to Him by love, as 
He through love, has deigned to unite Himself to me. 

I shall resolve to repeat frequent acts of contrition ; and 
in penance for my sins, to bear the sufferings of this world. 
Moreover, I shall inflict some especial mortification on my 
senses. 



CHAPTEE LXIII. 

JESUS CHRIST WITH HIS CROSS ARRIVES AT CALVARY. 

I. The Jews, knowing the efficacy of Jesus Christ's 
words, and fearing that by His discourse the crowd may be 
aroused to set Him free, hasten Him on, with insults and 
blows. But his charity urges and hastens Him on still 
more; so that finally, with incredible efforts, He arrives at 



456 JESUS ARRIVES AT CALVARY WITH CROSS 

the summit of the mountain whither as a figure of this iden- 
tical sacrifice Isaac also had been led. Oh, what an afflic- 
tion to the flesh to behold the place of His death ! But oh ! 
what joy at the same time to His spirit, to see the spot on 
which He is about to accomplish the Eedemption of the 
world! Calvary is an accursed mountain, infamous on 
account of the malefactors who are wont to be punished 
there. However, He calls it the holy mount of God, and 
gives it a thousand benedictions, because it is chosen for 
His exaltation and His glory. 

There is nothing in the Passion of Jesus Christ which is 
not willed and then arranged by Himself. Therefore, He 
chooses for His death Calvary, which is in the middle of the 
world, in order that the whole world may serve as a temple 
for the altar of the cross on which He has to offer the 
sacrifice of His life; and to diffuse its virtue not through 
one nation only, but through the entire human race. But 
we may also say that Jesus Christ has in this way been 
pleased to make His humility appear together with His 
charity, by choosing for His death a vile place, reserved for 
condemned criminals, as He had selected a vile stable of 
beasts for His birth. 

My soul, how many beautiful things are contained in the 
Passion of Jesus Christ! It suffices to ascend to Calvary 
in order to discover there an infinity of mysteries. But 
who is the man, Lord! worthy to ascend to the holy 
mountain, but he who is pure and clean, and practised in 
virtue? This at least is requisite, that we may carry the 
cross with Thee. And how can I be admitted with Thee 
to Calvary if I have no less an aversion to Thy cross than 
had Thy executioners? I am one of the many who think 
they can follow Thee, without the inconvenience of suffer- 
ing; persuaded that, provided they do not wantonly offend 
Thee, perfection consists in the prudence of self-love with- 
out efforts for the acquisition of virtues that are painful 
to the flesh. Oh, how greatly are these persons deceived, 
and how am I also deceived with them ! 

my divine Master ! grant me a little of Thy humility 



JESUS ARRIVES AT CALVARY WITH CROSS 457 

by which I may know myself thoroughly, for if I come to 
know myself for what I am, a monster of malice, an un- 
happy sinner deserving of hell, who ought to be in hell 
suffering all manner of torments, for the sins I have com- 
mitted, what mortification or humiliation is there that will 
be difficult to me ? What cross that will not even be lovely 
to me ? To him who has lived as a sinner, penance is not 
of counsel, but of precept. 

The thought of hell is powerful, but still more so is this 
reflection, which I shall make familiar to myself : What- 
ever I may suffer, what is it all compared to the sufferings 
of Jesus Christ? All my suffering amounts to nothing 
when placed in the balance with His. 

II. As soon as Jesus Christ has reached Calvary the 
cross is removed from His shoulders, and all crowd around 
Him in confusion, both Jews and Gentiles, to insult Him, 
some in one way, some in another. Each one thinks it fair 
to inflict what cruelty suggests, and our divine Eedeemer 
does not resist, the Divinity taking no part in the scene ex- 
cept to support Him, until that final moment when He 
shall cease to breathe. 

As it was the custom to give the condemned some refresh- 
ment to uphold them in their pains, the two thieves have 
pure wine given them to drink, but to Jesus Christ wine is 
given mixed with gall. They make a show of compassion 
for Him in His fatigue and fainting, but it is all done in 
order to mock at Him and torment Him the more, pretend- 
ing pity so as to indulge cruelty. Observe, my soul, how 
Jesus Christ being tortured in all parts except His tongue 
and in His bowels, gall is given to Him to render Him in 
every sense of the word a Man of Sorrows. The Prophets 
had foretold this also, that the Messiah should be fed with 
gall by His beloved people. And does it not seem to thee, 
my soul, that He deserves to be commiserated, when for 
His refreshment so bitter and nauseous a beverage is given 
Him ? Why, then, dost thou not keep company with Him 
in the bitterness of His sorrow with bitter tears? 

Were tears in my power, assuredly, my Jesus ! I woul<J 



458 JESUS ARRIVES AT CALVARY WITH CROSS 



wish to do nothing but weep in contemplating Thy Passion. 
But as I have no tears, I give Thee at least what I have, — 
a feeling of s} T mpathy and compassion, such as I may, in 
seeing Thee become for me a fool, so derided in Thy wis- 
dom, for a wretch like me, so embittered in Thy sweetness. 
What else is this wine, which is given Thee mixed with 
gall, but my faith which is spoiled by my wicked life? 
What, except the Sacraments and prayer, which I offer Thee 
with tepidity and sloth ? What but the good works which I 
perform with unworthy intentions of vain-glory, envy, and 
hypocrisy? In this gall which embitters Thy mouth, I 
especially recognize my sins of gluttony; seeking, as I do, 
in eating and drinking, more to satisfy my sensuality than 
my necessity. Behold, King of glory! my wickedness, 
through which shines with the more splendor Thy most 
loving kindness. I grieve for my ingratitude, since in so 
many of Thy graces, and principally in the Adorable Sacra- 
ment of the Eucharist, Thou givest me honey, and in re- 
turn, I give Thee gall. Ah ! overcome my malice by Thy 
goodness, and through that most bitter gall, which Thou 
fastest, make me taste the precious sweets of Thy love. 

I shall call to mind the gall given to Jesus, when I take 
my food, in order to mortify the sensuality of the appetite. 
In order that my actions may be without gall, I shall take 
care that every action shall be good in itself, and shall, 
moreover, be performed with a good intention. 

III. Jesus Christ puts His blessed lips to the cup of 
wine and gall that is presented to Him ; but He has scarcely 
tasted it when He turns aside and refuses to drink it, pre- 
ferring rather to suffer thirst, distress, and faintness, than 
to avail Himself of so cruel a refreshment. It is not that 
He refuses the disgusting liquor to avoid its painful bitter- 
ness, for He swallows enough of it to poison His palate, and 
also to give to His mouth its peculiar torment. His refusal 
to swallow it must be a mystery. 

By the gall our sins are signified, and for our sins He is 
ready indeed to satisfy by His sorrowful Passion. But 
could He allow even what is a bare figure and shadow of sia 



JESUS ARRIVES AT CALVARY WITH CROSS 459 



to incorporate itself with, and penetrate- deeply into His 
immaculate and deified Humanity ? Oh, no, never ! This 
gall was not in the chalice, which He accepted with resigna- 
tion in the garden. Therefore, the scourges have been sweet 
to Him ; sweet is the cross, sweet also will be the nails ; but 
that the gall of sin should enter His bowels, can not be 
sweet either to His most holy soul or to His most innocent 
body. Though the drink is not pure gall, but is mingled 
with wine, He can not endure the mixture of it. However, 
it is not that He abhors the bitterness of the gall, but that 
which it signifies. 

Oh, how precious, my good Jesus ! is this first lesson 
given by Thee to me on Calvary! Certain maxims and 
opinions, agreeable to pride and sensuality, have the color 
of good wine ; but whatever sweetness such wine may have, 
it is mixed with gall, and I must refuse it, after Thy ex- 
ample. I shall hear what is said to me by the world, the 
flesh, and the devil; but I will not consent and I will 
reject it. 

My misfortune, my God! is, that in pleasures of the 
earth I taste the sweetness and not the bitterness. My 
taste is depraved, and my mind, disordered by passions, is 
readily deceived. Ah ! make me taste their real bitterness, 
that their empty sweetness may not inebriate me, and that I 
may rather abominate their seductive delusions. My soul, 
afflicted with as many diseases as it has vices, has lost its 
true savor. Ah ! apply Thyself with Thy wonted mercy to 
heal it, so that it may relish and know and discern that true 
and great sweetness which Thou reservest for those that 
love Thee. Grant that without Thee nothing may again 
please or refresh me ! Let all my delight be solely in Thy 
love, and let me always choose for myself rather to suffer 
with Thee than to rejoice without Thee. And when, my 
Jesus ! shall I commence really and truly to love Thee, so 
as entirely to forget vanity, and find my delight in Thee 
alone, who art the Truth ! 

For the regulation of my life, I shall adopt this rule : To 
abstain from every mixture of gall; that is, from every- 



460 JESUS ARRIVES AT CALVARY WITH CROSS 

thing in which there can possibly be sin or the doubt or the 
danger of sin. 

IV. Anxious to do their work speedily, the Jews do not 
lose time, after having to their heart's content abused Our 
Lord as a malefactor, who has at length brought Himself 
to the gibbet. Several workers of iniquity set themselves 
to do what is necessary to execute the sentence of death. 
One has with him hammers; another, nails; another, in- 
struments for making the hole in which the cross is to be 
placed; and some fall on Him with fury to strip Him. 
Everything is done with malice and without considerate- 
ness. His tunic adheres to His wounds, that are again torn 
and reopened with bitter pain and loss of blood. 

This is the fourth time that He appears in public naked, 
with still greater confusion and suffering. He does not 
refuse the tormenting ignominy of nakedness, to clothe us 
with immortal life. Behold, my soul, Thy Saviour stream- 
ing with blood; and with profound reverence adore that 
blood that drops upon the ground, for it is divine blood, the 
blood with which Thou art redeemed. Behold the only- 
begotten Son of the Eternal Father, who raises His eyes to 
Heaven and gives thanks that He has at last reached the 
point of being crucified thus poor and naked, for our love. 
But dost thou understand what He teaches thee by His 
nakedness ? 

Neither the world nor the devil can be conquered except 
by one that is poor and naked, and the kingdom of eternal 
bliss being promised only to the poor, it follows necessarily 
that we must be poor to obtain it. And what is this neces- 
sary poverty ? Poverty of spirit, poverty of affection, which 
consists in living detached from the things of this world ; 
not loving nor desiring them, but rather despising them 
as fleeting, false vanities, unworthy of the esteem and 
affection of a soul that has been destined in its creation 
for an eternity of glory. 

Ah, my Jesus, great Lover of poverty ! who hast chosen 
to be born poor, to live poor, and to be yet poorer in Thy 
death; ah! enlighten me, to know the miseries of vanity, 



THE CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS CHRIST 



461 



that I may not value them, and the preciousness of poverty, 
that I may love it. Thou, who hast made Thyself poor by 
Thy own choice, in order to dispense to us Thy immense 
riches, give me for my rich portion, poverty of spirit, by 
which my heart may be resigned amid the discomforts and 
want which I shall meet, detached from every creature 
and every created thing, and intimately united to Thee 
alone, my sovereign Good ! I ask of Thee what I have not 
and can not have of myself ; and from Thee I hope to obtain 
it. That by the poverty of nakedness suffered by Thee for 
my love, Thou wilt make me love and practise poverty of 
spirit for Thy love ; so that I may ever look upon vanity 
with contempt, and place a high value on eternity. 

The attachment that I entertain for my personal com- 
forts is opposed to poverty of spirit. I shall labor to mod- 
erate it. Virtue does not consist in poverty, but in the love 
of poverty ; not in experiencing its effects, but in affection 
for it. 



CHAPTEK LXIV. 

THE CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS CHRIST. 

I. J esus Christ being the divine wisdom that rules all 
things; as He ordained that the place of His crucifixion 
should be Mount Calvary, so also in regard to the time, in 
order to show the excess of His charity, He ordained that 
He should be crucified in the flower of His age, on the anni- 
versary of the creation of man, and at the very hour at 
which the first man sinned. The Evangelists use but one 
word to express His crucifixion., checked perhaps by horror 
and tears; and they leave us to imagine the manner of it, 
which will be fully revealed at the Last J udgment, by that 
God to whom alone is known what was the mercy of Jesus 
and the impiety of the Jews. 

Let us then represent to ourselves our loving Saviour, 
who being commanded to throw Himself on the ground, in 



462 THE CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS CHRIST 



order to be stretched on the cross, immediately falls on His 
knees, and with His head bowed down, refers His obedience 
to the command of His Eternal Father. It is especially at 
the approaching act of the crucifixion that He gives, by 
His humility, exceeding glory to the divine Majesty; show- 
ing Himself obedient unto death, even to the death of the 
cross, which is the most ignominious of all. Here likewise 
it properly is that He accomplishes our Redemption, by 
paying for us on the cross the price of His divine life. 

Reflect, my soul, that if the obedience of the Son of God 
has been admirable in His becoming Man for thee, far more 
admirable is His obedience now, when He puts Himself for 
thee on the cross, to die on it like an infamous criminal. 
He thus teaches thee how God is to be obeyed. How dost 
thou obey? 

stupendous prodigy, so stupendous that the heavens 
may well be astounded! I am most obedient to the con- 
cupiscence of the flesh, and to the laws of the world, even 
so far as to be willing to receive in punishment of this my 
guilty obedience, an eternal death ; and oh ! how reluctant 
am I to obey Thee, my sovereign Lord and my God, who 
hast promised eternal life to those who obey Thee ! Con- 
duct so refractory as mine arises from nothing but a per- 
verse love, which has gained dominion over me. I love too 
much my sensuality, too much the vain things of the world, 
and my obedience is prompt in that to which my love in- 
clines me. Ah ! omnipotent God ! purify my love from all 
that vitiates it, so that I may no longer love things tem- 
poral and fleeting, but those which are spiritual and eter- 
nal ; no longer the world, but Thee, who art the Creator of 
the world. If I love Thee as I ought, I shall also be obedi- 
ent to Thee. Behold my heart. Till it with Thy love, and 
I promise to obey Thee perfectly in all things. 

To imitate Jesus, who obeys the executioners with His 
eyes fixed on God, I shall practise humility by obeying even 
my inferiors, preferring for the love of God the will of 
others to my own. 

II, In the Passion of Jesus Christ the eye of the soul 



THE CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS CHRIST 



should be kept continually fixed, at one time on the Hu- 
manity which suffers, at another on the Divinity which 
providentially arranges all that has been ordained by mercy 
from eternal ages. Wherefore this Man-God, knowing that 
the hour is come, in which, not through necessity, but by 
His own free will, He is to be crucified, behold, He stretches 
Himself on the cross, placing His back, which is all wounds, 
on the hard and rough wood. There is no need to use force 
with Him. He Himself stretches out His hands, as if 
desirous to embrace His beloved people though rebellious 
and ungrateful, and to unite to Himself and press to His 
Heart all the faithful of His Church. 

He offers first His right hand, which is on the side op- 
posite the heart, as well to denote His love, as because with 
this hand Adam sinned when he took the apple. The execu- 
tioner, fixing a large nail in the middle of the palm, gives it 
repeated blows with the hammer, to make it enter the hand 
and wood, till it comes out on the other side. What pain, 
and what horrible convulsions, at the laceration of the 
flesh, the muscles, the veins, and the arteries of this most 
delicate body ! 

See, my soul ! how the blood gushes out from the wound, 
and how Jesus in the meantime offers it to the Eternal 
Father for thee. Oh ! how hard is thy heart, harder than 
stone, if it is not softened at such a sight. Beg thy Saviour 
to grant thee one tear of compassion, one tear of contrition ; 
and kneeling down, go in spirit to adore and thank and kiss 
that sacred hand pierced by this nail for thee. 

my Jesus ! I compassionate Thee in that bitter pain 
which Thou sufferest in this right hand, which spans the 
heavens, that are adorned with stars, and filled with bliss- 
ful delights ! Oh, how much am I indebted to this hand of 
Thine ! It is with this hand that Thou hast protected me ; 
at one time by holding me back, and not allowing me to 
fall, at another by raising me up, when I had fallen through 
my own fault. most sweet Jesus ! I am the son of Thy 
right hand, and it is from this hand crucified that I hope 



464 THE CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS CHRIST 



for the grace to be converted, the grace to be perfectly re- 
formed, and to be saved eternally. 

Extend to me, J esus ! this right hand, and glorify it 
over me by giving me an efficacious grace to overcome all 
the enemies of my eternal salvation, and to reach the mount 
of sanctity, the mount of glory, which Thou, by Thy right 
hand, hast purchased for me. most holy wound ! I adore 
thee, and I beg thee to continue to extend thy gracious pro- 
tection over me. 

I shall acknowledge as proceeding from the wound of 
the right hand of Jesus, those graces by which, on dan- 
gerous occasions, I have been kept from sin, and those also, 
by which after sinning, I have been moved to humble my- 
self and repent. 

III. Still more cruel is the crucifixion of the left hand. 
For as it will not reach the hole already made in the cross, 
the executioners seize the arm and violently drag it till it 
reaches the mark, thus widening the wound of the right 
hand, dislocating the shoulders and breaking many nerves. 
In this way is this hand nailed as was the other, and pain 
being thus heaped on pain, well-nigh does the blessed J esus 
breathe out His soul with fainting and exhaustion. 

If we should see an animal crucified in this manner, 
human nature would experience some tender emotion. 
What then is the compassion that we owe to Jesus Christ ! 
But let us not fix our thoughts on His bodily pain so as to 
forget the affliction of His soul. What heart-rending an- 
guish must we believe His to be at seeing Himself thus 
covered with ignominies and overwhelmed with sufferings ? 
Nevertheless, all He suffers does not prevent the mind from 
exercising most virtuous acts. What acts of love to God 
does He not make ! What acts of love for us ! What acts 
of love for the cross, so closely united and fastened to it 
as He is ! 

Let us draw near to ask Him what are these wounds in 
the midst of His hands? He will answer, that they are 
signs and testimonies of His loving obedience. Oh, how 
much then is to be learned from only looking at these im- 



THE CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS CHRIST 



465 



maculate hands ! Divine charity has imprinted my name 
on them, and oh ! that I might have the happiness to have 
their wounds also imprinted on my heart, to cancel all the 
images and impressions of vice ! 

My most loving Jesus ! have the mercy, 1 beseech Thee, 
to remember that Thou hast made me with Thy hands ; with 
those hands which are transfixed with nails for me. Ah ! 
wilt Thou despise the work of Thine omnipotent and mag- 
nificent hands ? Look at the wounds in these same hands ; 
read there my salvation, written with those nails in letters 
of blood, and have mercy and save me. 

I will seek no other shelter or repose than in these 
wounds. In that in the right is the fountain of that life 
which is true life. In the left is an immense treasure of 
riches and glory ; and what more can I desire or hope for ? 
Fix in Thy wounds, my Saviour ! my affections, my de- 
sires, my hopes ; for here it is that mercy and truth, peace 
and justice, meet to reconcile me with God. Most sacred 
"Wounds ! I adore you, I thank you, I kiss you, and I pray 
you to safeguard and defend me from those perils in which 
I am continually placed, of losing the grace of God, and of 
losing, moreover, His eternal glory. 

To secure to myself the hope of my salvation in the 
wounds of Jesus Christ, I will learn this maxim, as though 
written in these same wounds : To obey God, and whoever 
holds the place of God over me. 

IV. The hands of Jesus Christ being nailed, they now 
turn to His feet ; and as these will not reach the place where 
the nail is to be fixed, one of the executioners begins to pull 
them with all his might. Then one being placed over the 
other, these too are pierced through with a longer nail, 
which they continue to hammer till it comes out at the back 
of the wood. 1 trough the cruel violence used in thus pull- 
ing His entire body, His muscles are so rent, and the joints 
of His back, chest, and loins, so displaced, that the bones 
being dislodged from their sockets, they may be numbered 
one by one, as He Himself has said by the Prophet. 

Strange and poignant beyond words to express is His 



466 TEE CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS CHRIST 



pain. And where is compassion in my heart ? If it happen 
that my foot is pricked with a thorn, I complain and grieve 
at the wound. While for Jesus transfixed with nails my 
affections are no more moved than if I were a creature 
without sense. How is this? Have I then more love for 
a foot, which is one of my members, than I have for Jesus 
Christ, who is my Head? 

See, my soul! with what patience and meekness He 
suffers this horrible torment, without complaining either 
of the thorns piercing His head, or of the nails that per- 
forate His hands and feet, or of the executioners who treat 
Him worse than if He were a brute. This is our Head, to 
whom we are bound to conform ourselves, if we wish to be 
saved. But how far are we from imitating Him, in our 
delicacy, sensuality and impatience ! 

Ah, my most loving Jesus ! I humble myself before Thee, 
full of shame and confusion. Oh, grant that I may cleave 
to Thy crucified feet ! I am unworthy of it, because I am 
a great sinner ; but have patience even with me, and spurn 
me not from Thy feet, from these feet under which is the 
universe, which the Seraphim glorify in covering with their 
wings, and which with giant steps are come from heaven to 
earth for me. 

sacred feet thus nailed to the cross for me, because I 
have walked in the ways of iniquity to perdition, I beg 
pardon of you, with contrition for my sins, and I implore 
of Our Lord, through your merits, that He would conduct 
me in the path of virtue and give me strength to follow on 
with such constancy, treading after you, that I may happily 
arrive at my last end. You, deified feet, are a figure of 
mercy and of judgment ! Make me now taste the sweetness 
of mercy, and escape the rigors of the tremendous judg- 
ment. 

V. The crucifixion over, a parchment is fastened to the 
top of the cross, with these words written on it, " Jesus of 
Nazareth, the King of the Jews thus declaring to all the 
world that after so many accusations and so much noise, 

0) St. John xix, 19. 



THE CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS CHRIST 467 



no other cause for condemning Him to death has been 
found than this alone : that He is the King and Saviour of 
the world. The Jews are displeased that Pilate should 
have written them ; but by heavenly dispensation, he insists 
that what is written is written; because that is unchange- 
ably true, which has been said by Jesus Christ, that He is 
King ; and in spite of the Jews, it will always be true, both 
in His death and after death, that He is King. 

Jesus Christ is a High Priest who, on the altar of the 
cross, offers Himself to His Father, and He is also a King, 
who comes to found the kingdom of His Church, on the 
four extremities of the cross, and to extend it to the con- 
fines of the four quarters of the world. The title is written 
in characters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, that the oracle 
of the Prophet may be fulfilled, that nations of every lan- 
guage shall be the people of the King. 

Eeflect, my soul, how all is contained in the first word of 
this title, namely, in the word Jesus. He is crucified for 
this sole reason that He is Jesus, that is, Saviour. If this 
cause of His dying be taken away, there is no other. He is 
Jesus; and because He is Jesus, God and Man, behold how, 
whilst His Humanity suffers, the Divinity beams forth with 
royal majesty over His head. It is expressed in the title 
that He is a divine King, whether of the elect, who believe 
in Him, to reward them, or of the unbelieving reprobate, to 
punish them. 

My Jesus, my Saviour, my King, my God ! oh, how con- 
soling is it for me that Thy innocence is manifested amid 
calumnies, and Thy glory amid ignominies ! I rejoice that 
it is known from the title of the cross, that in spite of Thy 
enemies, Thou art a divine King over all the kings of the 
earth ; thus hath written the Eternal Father, and thus will 
it be infallibly. If I am saved, Thou art my God and my 
King, who with mercy wilt make me happy forever in Thy 
kingdom. If I am damned, Thou art no less my God and 
my King, who for eternity wilt make me endure the 
scourges of Thy most righteous anger. 

As for Thee, Thou art no less honored by a brand of 



468 THE CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS CHRIST 



hell, than by a star of the firmament. But as for myself, 
ah! is it not better that I should acknowledge and bless 
Thee as my God and my King through love, with a holy 
hope, than that I should hereafter, as a miserable despair- 
ing sinner, curse Thee forever ? Yes, my Jesus ! I acknowl- 
edge Thee and adore Thee as my King and my God, and I 
offer myself to obey Thee in everything that pleases Thee. 
Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews ! that is, King of all 
those that believe and hope in Thee, have mercy on me. 

Whenever I behold the Crucifix or meditate upon it, I 
shall remember the title of the cross, to believe and to con- 
fess that this Man of Sorrows is true God. In proportion 
to my faith shall be my profit. 

VI. There are four executioners who have crucified Our 
Lord; and as they have no means to repay themselves for 
the cruelty they have exercised, they contemptuously tear 
His upper garment into four parts, and draw lots for His 
under tunic with a mockery which they forbear to cast on 
the thieves. These circumstances are minute, but though 
they are minute, they are written in the Gospel, because 
already foretold by the Prophets, and distinctly verified in 
Jesus Christ, they serve to strengthen our faith. They are 
also written as being mysterious. Let us with fruit ponder 
one only of these mysteries. 

By the outer garment of Jesus Christ, which is divided 
into four parts, is figured the exterior grace of Christianity, 
which is diffused over the four quarters of the world, — a 
participation in the word of God and in the Sacraments 
being common to all. The under garment is a symbol of 
the interior spirit, of that unction, devotion, charity and 
vivifying grace which is not given to all. It is given as it 
were by lot, and falls to the few; because as the lot falls 
without regard either of person or merit, so this grace is 
bestowed by God, through an occult judgment of His, on 
those only to whom He sees it right and good to give it. 

How profound is the mystery of divine wisdom, and 
moreover how humiliating for us ! Reflect, my soul, that 
it avails little to profess the religion of Jesus Christ, if we 



JESUS CRUCIFIED BETWEEN TWO THIEVES 469 

have not the spirit of Jesus Christ. The works of Chris- 
tianity are an external garment common to all ; but not to 
all belongs the inner garment, which is that spirit of grace 
by which actions are rendered worthy of eternal life. This 
spirit in my case is a matter of lot ; because it is not given to 
one undeserving of it, except by a simple act of the lov- 
ing kindness of God. And who knows whether such a lot 
will fall to me? unsearchable abyss! This should be 
meditated upon, not to cast us into despair, but to hum- 
ble us. 

If I have humility, then I shall please Thee, my God ! 
then I shall share in that grace of justification and perse- 
verance, which Thou bestowest only upon the humble, Thy 
elect. I have no occasion to throw myself into despair, on 
account of Thy secret judgments, since I know for a cer- 
tainty that this is one of Thy judgments, to be always 
favorable to the humble. If I am not humble, the fault 
will be my own. Mine will be the punishment; on Thy 
part, most just, the punishment of my pride. Give me, 
therefore, sincere humility, my God ! to dispose me to re- 
ceive that spirit of sanctity that is necessary for my eternal 
salvation ; because without humility it is impossible for any 
one to attain either sanctity or salvation. 

I shall thank Jesus Christ for the benefits He has granted 
me, and still grants me in the holy Church. Moreover, I 
shall resolve to unite my exterior works of virtue with the 
interior spirit. 



CHAPTER LXV. 

JESUS CHRIST CRUCIFIED BETWEEN TWO THIEVES. 

I. In the Old Law the sacrifice was lifted up on high, 
as an offering to Almighty God ; and thus it is done with 
Jesus Christ, who has sacrificed Himself for us. ^ The exe- 
cutioners drag the cross to the hole, in which it is to be 
placed, and raising it by degrees, till it stands upright in 



470 JESUS CRUCIFIED BETWEEN TWO THIEVES 



the air, they let it fall down all at once, so that by the 
shock all the limbs of the crucified Lord are violently 
shaken, the joints wrenched apart, and the wounds re- 
opened with most excruciating pain, sufficient to make him 
die in convulsions. 

He Himself had predicted it, with reference to the well- 
known history, that as Moses lifted up the brazen serpent 
to save the life of the Jews from the bites of the fiery ser- 
pents, so He should be raised aloft on the cross, to give to 
His faithful that true life of which the infernal serpent 
had deprived them. Let us then behold in the raising of 
the crucified Lord, not the figure, but the truth figured. 

See, my soul, that He has His mouth open, His tongue 
bloody, His eyes half dead, His face in mourning with the 
pallor of death, His flesh wasted, His body so drawn to- 
gether that He appears to be destitute of bowels ! Oh, what 
anguish! What inexplicable, incomprehensible suffering, 
that He should be placed on high in such a condition, hav- 
ing no support on which to rest the natural weight of His 
entire body except the nails. What madness in me to be 
unmoved at such a sight, and to be without feeling ! The 
devils yield, humbled and conquered by Jesus Christ; and 
must not my malice be more than diabolical if it refuse to 
be subdued by His immense goodness? 

crucified Jesus ! I hear the voice of Thy wounds crying 
out to excite me to love One who has deigned to suffer such 
horrible torments for me. I wish to love Thee, my 
Saviour ! for all my love is due to Thee ; but I have a heart 
as hard, frozen and insensible as though it were the heart 
of a dead person. Ah ! wound it with one of Thy nails that 
it may awaken and revive. I do not desire that Thou 
shouldst expose Thyself to fresh wounds for me, but only 
that Thou shouldst apply to my heart one at least of the 
many wounds Thou hast already received, that it may be 
touched and may breathe forth some loving sighs toward 
Thee. 

The first effect of my love must be that my interior man, 
nurtured in malice and sin, should be crucified with Thee, 



JESUS CRUCIFIED BETWEEN TWO THIEVES 471 



my Jesus ! who art crucified for sin. In vain shall I at- 
tempt to ascend to higher degrees of mystic love, if I do not 
ground myself in the first degree, which is to grieve for 
having offended my God, with a sincere resolution to offend 
Him no more. 

Kneeling at the foot of the cross, I shall implore of Jesus 
crucified to be efficaciously my Saviour, by granting me that 
love which is necessary for me in order to attain eternal 
salvation. 

II. It was written in the sacred oracles that the Messiah 
should be like a torch, diffusing its light on every side. 
This torch, in fact, was placed on the candlestick, when 
Jesus Christ was placed on the cross. But see what the 
J ews are doing to obscure His reputation. Having crucified 
with Him two thieves, they raise them up, one on His right, 
the other on His left, that He may appear in the middle as 
their chief, and worse than they. They have always en- 
deavored to throw discredit on Him by calumnies ; and now 
they make their last effort by putting Him to the most 
shameful death in the company of malefactors. Eeflect, 
my soul, on His confusion at the ignominy of seeing Him- 
self exposed to the eyes of so many people and nations, re- 
puted worse than these two who are the worst in the city of 
Jerusalem. He is aware of the dishonor that is done Him. 
He comprehends it, and He has all the sorrow and dis- 
pleasure that such circumstances naturally cause. Still He 
endures it with such meekness and patience as to create 
astonishment that can not be expressed. He is worthy of 
being adored and imitated; since by this action He 
triumphs over the pride of the world. 

my Jesus ! Thy humility was great in being born in a 
stable between two brute beasts ; but what humility is this, 
to be willing to die crucified between two thieves! On 
Tabor Thou hadst only three witnesses of Thy glory, when 
Thou didst show Thyself arrayed in dazzling splendor be- 
tween Moses and Elias; and now on Calvary, Thou dost 
choose to have a million witnesses to be spectators of Thy 
abjection, beholding Thee in the character of a criminal— 



4?2 JESUS CRUCIFIED BETWEEN TWO THIEVES 

and an infamous criminal — condemned to die with as- 
sassins. What humility is this ! 

I compassionate Thee in Thy misery, eternal Word! 
who art as it were in the midst of the Most Blessed Trinity 
in Paradise. I compassionate Thee, King of Glor}', re- 
duced for me to suffer such painful confusion. I bless and 
thank Thee for this splendid example which Thou dost 
give me. How beautiful would it be for me, if on meet- 
ing with some injury or contempt, I were to practise 
patience with sentiments of sincere humility, thus uniting 
my patience and humility with Thine ! But humility and 
patience are wanting to me. I desire them, on account of 
the desire I have of imitating Thee. Ah, my Jesus! who 
hast willed to be crucified, not to condemn but to save me, 
listen favorably to my desires. With Thy assistance, I also 
shall exert myself ; for woe to me ! I shall be the most un- 
happy of men, if I make Thy Passion ineffectual in curing 
me of pride and arrogance. 

I shall make the resolution rather to have patience my- 
self, when trials come to me, than to expect it of others. I 
shall strive to humble myself, rather than seek to humble 
others. 

III. The intention of the Jews in exposing Jesus cruci- 
fied, between two thieves, was to destroy His reputation. 
But this was not God's design. For thus was the prophecy 
of Our Saviour verified, and it has thus been made known, 
that as He died under the appearance of a sinner, in the 
midst of sinners, He died in general for the salvation of 
sinners, calling all mankind without exception to enjoy the 
benefit of His plentiful Eedemption. Shortly before He 
went to the garden, He predicted that He was to be placed 
among the wicked; and the Jews do no more than verify 
this prophecy, in spite of themselves, still without availing 
themselves of the prophecy thus verified to acknowledge 
the Saviour. 

Eeflect, my soul, how J esus crucified between thieves, now 
manifestly declares that the principal aim of His infinite 
charity, in suffering so painful a Passion, has been to call 



JE8V8 CRUCIFIED BETWEEN TWO THIEVES 473 



and seek and save miserable sinners, offering as a remedy 
for their mortal infirmities, the blood that flows from His 
wounds. With what confidence ought we to approach Him, 
since we know that He does not refuse the society of sin- 
ners, and that it is for sinners that He is crucified. 

Oh, how much, my Jesus! is Thy infinite wisdom to be 
admired, which conceals infinite power beneath so great 
misery and wretchedness. How admirable that a Man, con- 
demned to die upon the cross with thieves, should set free 
all men condemned to eternal death with devils ! I adore 
with most profound reverence the sublimity of all Thy 
mysteries. But, moreover, how much consolation is there 
for me when I see Thee, enduring for me so much pain and 
shedding torrents of blood! In truth, my sins are many 
and grievous; but can I doubt Thy mercy when I behold 
Thee crucified for these same sins of mine, and behold Thee 
with extended arms waiting to receive and pardon me? 
What more can I desire in order to put an end to my want 
of confidence? 

J esus, ardent Lover of sinners ! here am I, the greatest 
sinner of all, who come for pardon, confiding in Thy 
merits, which Thou hast willed should be my merits also. 
With most lively sentiments of love and contrition, I repent 
for having offended a God so great and good as Thou art, 
most worthy to be loved above all the things of this world. 
I now throw myself into Thy arms. With Thee, I will live ; 
with Thee I will die, desirous of loving Thee and of in- 
creasing in Thy love. 

1 shall impress on my mind an exalted idea of the Pas- 
sion of Jesus Christ; and considering it as having been 
undergone for me, I shall place in it entire confidence for 
the execution of my good purposes. 

IV. Let us look well at Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is 
crucified naked and exposed to the eyes of all, that it may 
be seen in what condition is every part of His blessed body. 
His head is crowned with thorns, and He knows not where 
to rest it. His face is defiled with spittle ; His mouth em- 
bittered with gall; His ears tormented with blasphemies; 



474 JESUS CRUCIFIED BETWEEN TWO THIEVES 



His hands nailed; His feet transpierced; and His flesh 
covered with wounds. Let us look well at Him, not with 
the eyes of Jewish incredulity, that see in Him nothing 
more than a man. Not with envy and contempt, but with 
eyes of faith, reflecting who this Man is whom we behold 
thus crucified and immersed in an ocean of sufferings. 

He is the true God begotten by a Father who is God, 
immense in majesty, in beauty, and in His own eternal, 
essential felicity. How then is the divine Majesty so dis- 
honored? The divine beauty so disfigured? The divine 
felicity so tormented? The divine eternity in the agonies 
of death ? Who has reduced a God to such extremity ? His 
own unparalleled charity alone. Through this charity hav- 
ing become Man, He exposes Himself on the cross to the 
sight of all, that it may be understood how much He loves 
us, and how much He deserves to be loved by us. 

Consequently, although there is no portion of His body, 
from head to foot, that can be called sound, His Heart 
alone, though steeped in mortal sadness, is yet strong, vig- 
orous and bright; because it is the seat of love. Love re- 
sides there and rules and strengthens nature to support the 
Passion. Therefore, thou, my soul, who desirest to love the 
Lord, when wilt thou find anything that can more easily 
move thee to love Him than that thou shouldst stand still 
and regard Him attentively ? Lift up the eyes of thy mind, 
and behold what painful sorrows He is enduring, whilst in 
order to save thee, He has come to seek thee. Prostrating 
thyself with respectful humility, return love for love to His 
deified Heart. 

Hail to Thee, Heart of Jesus, inflamed with love! I 
am indebted to Thee for so many and such cruel outrages, 
which my Saviour has suffered for me. And how can I be 
grateful in the midst of my wretchedness? most sweet 
Heart! most pure Heart! purify this heart from attach- 
ment to vanity ; so that, purified and cleansed, it may unite 
itself heart to heart with Thee, may breathe and sigh in its 
moments of fervor with Thee, and may have no other life 
than that of Thy love, to adore and honor Thee worthily, 



JESUS CRUCIFIED SCOFFED AT BY JEWS 475 



with so much pleasure to myself that I may no longer 
desire the pleasures of the world. My Jesus! through 
Thy Heart, I beg that I may be crucified with Thee, that 
with Thy three nails the three powers of my soul, mem- 
ory, will, and understanding, may be transfixed with entire 
conformity to Thy blessed will. 

I shall remember nothing which it does not please God 
that I should remember. I shall think of nothing but what 
pleases God I should think of. I shall never desire what 
it does not please God that I should desire. 



CHAPTEE LXVI. 

JESUS CRUCIFIED SCOFFED AT BY THE JEWS. 

I. After Jesus Christ has been crucified in body, the 
J ews crucify His soul also ; not ceasing to heap sorrow upon 
sorrow, by adding reproaches and scoffs to the torture of 
the cross. It is a law of nature, that one who is afflicted 
should be compassionated, or at least not derided, but there 
is no law in favor of J esus Christ. See, my soul, how they 
stand looking at Him, and making game of Him. All 
classes, from the highest to the lowest, vomit against Him 
horrible blasphemies, and manifest the satisfaction they 
take in His calamity by their furious gestures and de- 
meanor. Everywhere sorrows, everywhere insults, but in 
the good Jesus what humility, what patience ! When it is 
thought that He is satiated with reproaches, He is yet hun- 
gering after them more and more. He feels the dishonor 
that afflicts and torments Him extremely ; nevertheless, He 
desires it for our love. 

Must we not recognize Him as God, by His patience 
alone? Let us admire the Most High, the Glory of the 
angels in heaven, become the last and lowest of all men on 
Calvary. Let us return thanks to His immense goodness, 
since not by force but of His own will He is pleased to be 
so scorned and debased in order to free us from confusion 



476 JESUS CRUCIFIED SCOFFED AT BY JEWS 



and ignominy which shall have no end. Let us excite our- 
selves to imitate Him, chiefly by bearing with patience and 
humility insults and adversities. Oh, how foolish we are, 
to be ashamed of being meek and humble! How can the 
servant be dishonored by doing that which his Lord does 
with glory? 

divine Saviour ! what must Thou have said interiorly, 
when bearing on the cross so many insults for me, at the 
same time having me present in Thy divine mind and see- 
ing the obligation I am under of imitating Thee, Thou 
didst behold me so punctilious, so morose, so jealous of my 
chimerical honor, that I can not endure a little detraction, 
a trifling slight, without complaint and resentment? 
Wretched Christian that I am! How couldst Thou, 
Lord ! love this Lucifer of the earth, who is so proud, not- 
withstanding the example Thou dost give him of patient 
humility ? I bless and thank Thy holy charity, and I detest 
and abominate my execrable pride. Ah ! communicate to 
me with Thy humility, Thy love. If I am not humble, I 
shall never have the grace to love Thee, I shall not have the 
grace to practise that humility which is genuine, and which 
consists in receiving humiliations willingly for Thy love. 
I confide in Thy merits that Thy grace may not fail me in 
time of trial. 

There is no remedy more efficacious against pride than to 
remember the humility of Jesus crucified. Therefore, I 
shall often call it to mind, rendering the thought of it 
habitual, in order to turn it to advantage when necessary. 

II. Amongst the reproaches with which Our Lord Jesus 
Christ is insulted on the cross this is one, that the rabble 
and the princes pass before Him, looking at Him, and jeer- 
ing Him with those words : " He saved others ; let Him 
save Himself, if He be Christ, the elect of God. If Thou be 
the King of the Jews, save Thyself." 1 They speak thus to 
insult and discredit Him, as if He were neither King nor 
God, and that He may be regarded as an impertinent 
boaster. But we may believe that this also is said by the 

0) St. Luke xxiii, 35, 37. 



JESUS CRUCIFIED SCOFFED AT BY JEWS 477 



instigation of the devils, who feel the virtue of the Cruci- 
fied, and tremble and would wish the Redemption of man 
might not be completed on the cross. 

But let us reflect on the constancy of Jesus. He grieves 
at the blasphemy He hears, and though He might cause 
Himself to be acknowledged as God by working this mir- 
acle, and coming down from the cross, He prefers rather to 
teach us patience, than to gain admiration by exercising 
His power. He would rather be known as God, by dying 
on the cross and saving our souls, than by descending from 
it and saving Himself. Had He not willed, He would not 
have been crucified ; and because he willed to be nailed to 
the cross for us, He will not descend from the cross, that it 
may be understood that the Author of salvation has no need 
to work miracles to save Himself ; and that our eternal sal- 
vation can not be accomplished without perseverance. 

My J esus, God-Man ! how strong is Thy love for me, that 
binds omnipotence and keeps Thee united and fastened to 
the cross more effectually than do the nails, more than could 
all the cords in the world! But how weak, on the other 
hand, is my love for Thee; scarcely does a cross befall me, 
than I am most impatient to shake it off, and I have not the 
slightest constancy to mortify my self-love by bearing a 
trifling affliction ! We can not love the Crucified, if we do 
not love the cross ; and as I do not love the cross, this is an 
evident sign that neither do I love Thee, my most amiable 
Saviour ! 

Thy example alone, on beholding Thee so patient in 
suffering so many insults for me, ought to be more than 
sufficient to fortify me to bear every injurious affront for 
Thee. Whence comes it then that I have not patience to 
support a single word in the least degree sharp or sarcastic 
that may be addressed to me ? It seems to me at times that 
I have some fervor. But this is only at certain intervals. 
I seek to come down from the cross the very moment that 
I commence to feel it. Ah, my Jesus ! make me love Thee, 
and love the cross also in imitation of Thee, with a true and 
persevering love. Of what use is it to begin and not to 



478 JESUS CRUCIFIED SCOFFED AT BY JEWS 



persevere in virtue, since Thou hast promised Thy glory 
only to Him who gains it by perseverance ? 

I shall reflect on my instability and pusillanimity, and I 
shall make my reflection an occasion for humbling myself, 
knowing myself to be good-for-nothing, so that I may im- 
plore the divine grace by frequent prayer. 

III. However greatly Jesus Christ may be tormented 
and insulted, there is always some circumstance or other 
by which He may be recognized for what He is — the Man- 
God. He is blasphemed, He is derided as if He foolishly 
boasted that He is the Son of God, and vainly confided in 
God, and was not truly innocent, unless he gave a miracu- 
lous proof of His innocence by descending from the cross. 
But as it had been foretold in the Scripture, that the Mes- 
siah would be a butt for these derisions and blasphemies, 
we have here a light to know God, in the precise moment 
that His Divinity is scoffed at by unbelievers. As in the 
saints, so in the Saint of saints, constant perseverance in 
suffering is a proof of sanctity. 

The Jews promise to believe Him to be God, if He will 
descend from the cross. They say this, not because they 
are disposed to believe, but rather that no one may believe 
a Man so despised and derided to be God. Moreover, they 
say it by the instigation of the devils, who wish to prevent 
in the work of the cross the Eedemption of the world. The 
infernal enemy knows that Jesus Christ has allowed Him- 
self to be crucified through zeal for the salvation of souls. 
Therefore, he supposes that He will perhaps descend from 
the cross, through the same zeal for saving those souls by 
faith. But our Man-God pays no regard either to the talk 
of men or to the stratagems of devils, and teaches us by 
His example that virtue never should be abandoned, how- 
ever men may speak and the devils rage against us. 

heavenly Master, who has more need than I have of 
profiting by this holy lesson ? Sometimes I choose for my- 
self the cross, in imitation of Thee, with a desire to exercise 
myself in mortification, patience, and humility. But what 
haste I often make to come down from this cross, for every 



JESUS CRUCIFIED PRAYS FOR HIS ENEMIES 479 

foolish motive that is suggested to me by the devil, the 
world and the flesh. Under pretence of not injuring my 
health, my honor, or for some temporal interest, I seek my 
satisfactions, and defend my trifling points of honor, and 
even give the name of propriety and discretion to the grati- 
fication of my senses; the name of justice and zeal to my 
impatience and pride. 

My Jesus, my God! I behold Thy example and I hear 
Thy voice, with which from the cross Thou tellest me not to 
listen to those who would turn me from the way of virtue, 
and to be firm in the discharge of my duties. However, I 
am wilfully deaf and blind, and I will not permit myself 
to be guided by Thy light, nor to be penetrated by Thy 
voice. I deceive myself, and allow myself to be deceived, 
because I actually love to be deceived. Ah! assist me by 
Thy grace. I know that I can not deceive myself in the 
love of the cross. Establish this truth in my mind, and 
give strength to my heart to endure it. 

One glance at the Crucifix will suffice to show the vanity 
of the pretexts by which I justify in myself an idle life, a 
life of ease spent in the indulgence of self-love. 



CHAPTER LXVII. 

JESUS CRUCIFIED PRAYS FOR HIS ENEMIES. 

I. Let us consider Jesus Christ on His cross, as a 
Master in His chair, whose first lesson, given in the prayer 
that He offers up for His enemies, is one of unspeakable 
charity. He has already preached this virtue many, many 
times ; and now by His example He leaves us, as it were, an 
epilogue of His doctrine, giving proofs of the most tender 
benevolence, not only toward His persecutors and calumnia- 
tors, but even to His executioners. By this He teaches us 
to love our enemies, who have not as yet taken away our 
lives, as He loves His enemies at the very time that they 
are mercilessly putting Him to death. 



480 JESUS CRUCIFIED PRAYS FOR HIS ENEMIES 



Most astounding is the charity of Jesus, who does not 
consider from whom He suffers, but for whom. He begs 
that they may be pardoned by whom He is at the very time 
ill-treated; and He is solicitous for the life of those who 
are putting Him to death. He makes no account of the 
sufferings He endures in His most innocent body, that the 
souls of sinners may be saved. And as the loss of souls 
gives Him more pain than His own Passion, He offers this 
Passion to His Father, in order that not even one of these 
unhappy souls may be lost. My soul, hast thou ever seen a 
person so benign, so meek ? If death is a great infirmity of 
human nature, oh, how excellent a virtue is it to die amidst 
the flames of a charity like this ! 

Ah, my Jesus ! dispose me now to live in such a manner 
that I may be worthy to resemble Thee in death, by wish- 
ing well to every one that wishes evil to me. Give me a 
spirit like Thine, that I may remember to recommend in 
my prayers all those who offend me, and still more those 
that offend Thee. Since Thou hast offered Thyself abso- 
lutely to the divine Majesty for Thy enemies, among whom 
I also was numbered, grant that I may renew Thy offer- 
ings as a propitiation for myself. 

Eternal Father! look down from the sanctuary of Thy 
glory on the most precious Victim which our High Priest, 
Thy Son Jesus, offers Thee. He has sacrificed His life in 
agony, and with the loss of His blood, to make satisfaction 
for me. What more dost Thou desire, in compensation to 
Thy justice, and to appease Thy anger? Graciously hear 
that feeble voice, with which He entreats Thee to pardon 
me my sins ; and for the sake of this most noble Supplicant, 
who has all power with Thee, show that Thou art more 
merciful toward me in pardoning than I have been ma- 
licious against Thee in sinning. 

I shall imitate the prudent charity of Jesus, who hates 
the sin but loves the sinner. This distinction is practically 
difficult, but by the divine grace it shall become easy to me. 

II. In the Avhole of the preceding Passion, Jesus Christ 
has made Himself known as Man-God, and so likewise does 



JESUS CRUCIFIED PRAYS FOR HIS ENEMIES 481 

He act on the cross. Although He could show Himself as 
God by taking an exterminating vengeance on His enemies, 
He prefers to give proofs of His Divinity by patience, and 
by the charity of wishing well to every one who does Him 
harm. After having been silent until the present, without 
complaining either of torments or of outrages, He turns to 
God His Father and implores Him to have mercy on all 
those who persecute Him with so much cruelty and injus- 
tice. Oh, prayer truly worthy of the Son of God! The 
Prophet had predicted that the Messiah would offer up this 
prayer, Who ever had so great love for his friends as J esus 
has for His enemies? 

By this affectionate fervor in asking blessings on His 
executioners themselves, He manifests who He is, true God, 
Son of a Father who is God, as He had already declared, 
and, as He had already taught, that we must pray for our 
persecutors and calumniators in order that we may be 
children of our heavenly Father. He now gives us on the 
cross a most admirable example of this. He might have 
performed this act of virtue silently ; but He would, more- 
over, express it with His voice, to be heard and imitated 
by us. And why do we think that He reserved these words 
till the end of His life, if not that like the last words of a 
dying father, they might be more deeply imprinted on the 
hearts of His children? 

My Jesus, my God ! what must I say at the sight of Thy 
prodigious charity, when scourged, crowned with thorns, 
nailed to a tree, loaded with insults, it seems that Thou 
hast forgotten Thyself, and art wholly intent on imploring 
from the Eternal Father mercy for Thy very executioners ! 
God of infinite goodness ! what sweetness of grace and of 
glory wilt Thou give to those who love Thee, since Thou 
pourest out in superabundance the oil of Thy mercies on 
those who hate Thee? 

Grant, oh, grant me the grace of Thy love. Behold now 
my disposition for obtaining it. I recommend to Thee, 
Lord ! all my neighbors who, in any manner, whether by 
word or deed, have offended me ; and I implore Thee by the 



482 JESUS CRUCIFIED PRAYS FOR HIS ENEMIES 



merits of Thy charity, to give them Thy holy benediction, 
which may fill them with every best gift in this life and in 
the life to come. After this my heartfelt prayer, which I 
know to be acceptable to Thee, wilt Thou refuse me the 
grace that I ask for myself ? I desire to love Thee, and in 
order to love Thee, I commence to imitate Thee. But do 
Thou give to the imitation that perfection to which Thou 
wiliest that I should aspire. 

In particular I shall pray for those that speak ill of me, 
and who offend me in my reputation. This I shall do in 
imitation of Jesus Christ, who prays on the cross for His 
murderers. 

III. In the greatness of the Passion of Jesus Christ, the 
greatness of His charity is always to be more and more 
imitated. Hence it must be considered that He not only 
prays for all those who have crucified Him, and who con- 
temn Him, but in order to move His Father to have pity on 
them, He also seeks to excuse and extenuate the heinous- 
ness of their sin, by saying that they know not what they 
do. Oh, how ingenious is charity! It is true that these 
wicked men neither know that this Man is the Son of God, 
nor how atrocious is their crime. But it is an affected igno- 
rance, proceeding from a malicious will, which does not 
know, because it does not wish to know. Nevertheless, 
Jesus, in His mercy compassionates; and no longer a God 
of anger, but a God of mercy, on behalf of His Humanity 
He lovingly pardons. He covers the iniquity with His 
blood, and begs His Father to accept the excuse of igno- 
rance, to facilitate the pardon of malice. 

Behold, my soul, what thy Saviour teaches thee by His 
example ! Thus thou also shouldst act, when by word or 
deed thou feelest Thyself offended by any one. Whoever 
sins is truly blind and ignorant, and knows not what he 
does. Who would ever sin, if he would reflect on the offence 
he commits against God ; on heaven, which he forfeits ; and 
on hell, which he deserves by his sins? Ignorance is the 
origin of ail evil; and this ignorance, though culpable, 
which we love to have compassionated in ourselves, we 



JESUS PROMISES PARADISE TO GOOD THIEF 483 

ought, moreover, to compassionate, and to pray that it 
may be compassionated in others. 

My God, my Jesus, my Master! how is it that I do not 
blush with Thy example before me? Thou so kind and 
charitable, and I so proud and haughty, that, instead of 
excusing and pitying my neighbor in his defects, I rather 
magnify them, condemn him with bitter zeal, and interpret 
his actions for the worst. What would become of me if 
Thou didst act toward me as I act toward others? I owe 
thanks without measure and without end to Thy goodness, 
that has such pity for me, who am deserving of the severest 
chastisements for my inexcusable sins. I am grieved that 
I am incapable of thanking Thee as I should, and as I 
desire. 

Ah ! kindle in me true charity, that may make me like 
Thee, in knowing how to love and pity those who wish me 
ill; and a true faith, which may not suffer me to be in 
ignorance of the enormous evil that is committed by sin. 
I know that by sin the divine Majesty is offended, the glory 
of Paradise lost, and an eternity of hell merited. I know 
it, but I do not think of it ; and because I do not think of 
it, I easily sin. Oh, too guilty ignorance ! Can the sinner 
justify himself by saying, I did not know, I did not think ? 
Ah, my dear Jesus ! keep alive the faith within me that I 
may never more offend Thee. 

I shall restrain the wicked inclination I experience to 
form unkind judgments and suspicions of my neighbor. I 
shall excuse as much as possible the faults of others, to 
imitate in this also the charity of Jesus. 



CHAPTER LXVIII. 

JESUS CHRIST PROMISES PARADISE TO THE GOOD THIEF. 

I. No sooner has Jesus Christ prayed for His enemies, 
than immediately on hearing Him, one of the thieves cruci- 
fied at His side is enlightened. He had never before been 



484 JESUS PROMISES PARADISE TO GOOD THIEF 



with Our Saviour, either to listen to His sermons, or to 
see His miracles. And now the first time that he is with 
Him, on the gibbet of the cross, observing the patience 
and charity with which He endures so great sufferings 
and so many insults, he immediately recognizes Him 
and confesses Him to be God. He humbles himself, ac- 
cuses himself, and asks His mercy to deliver him, not from 
bodily death, but from the eternal death of the soul: 
"Lord, remember me when Thou shalt come into Thy 
kingdom." 1 Thus speaks this thief to Jesus. Jesus, who 
sees his repentance, though He also beholds His afflicted 
Mother present, before He consoles the Mother, turns to 
the thief and says : " Amen I say to thee, this day thou 
shalt be with Me in Paradise." 2 

In these words of Jesus Christ the fruit of His Passion 
begins to be experienced, for the promise of Paradise had 
never been made from the commencement of the world till 
that hour. But let us reflect to whom this promise of 
Paradise is made. Heaven is promised to a thief who, 
after having merited hell more than a thousand times, 
viewing his own sins in the wounds of Jesus Christ, re- 
pents and grieves for them with a sincere act of contrition. 
More than the glory of Paradise can not be given to the 
saints, who have spent their whole lives in heroic works of 
sanctity ; and this glory is promised and given to a penitent 
of an hour, who by virtue of his contrition, from a great 
sinner, becomes a great martyr. 

Oh, consoling thought ! Why should I despair of the 
pardon of my sins, and of my eternal salvation, when I see 
absolution given and heaven opened with so great mercy to 
a wicked thief ? Ah, my Jesus ! who hast willed to be 
crucified, to make known from the cross Thy Divinity, and 
to be crucified between two thieves, to show Thy omnipotent 
power in this thief, remember that, no less than for this 
thief Thou hast been crucified for me also. Therefore, re- 
member me, now that Thou art in Thy kingdom. 

My sins are grievous, more so than those of the good 

(0 St. Luke xxiii, 42. ( 2 ) Ibid. 43. 



JESUS PROMISES PARADISE TO GOOD THIEF 485 

thief, because I am a most ungrateful sinner; but through 
the merits of Thy Passion, I also hope and trust that Thy 
mercy over sinners will be infinitely greater. For me as 
well as for this thief have Thy wounds been opened, and 
Thy most precious blood shed. Therefore, with the same 
confidence I also exclaim, Memento mei, my Saviour! 
Remember me, who have been redeemed by Thee with a 
plentiful Redemption. 

I shall make acts of hope in the mercy of God, and in the 
merits of Jesus Christ, for the remission of my sins, and 
for eternal salvation. Moreover, I shall hope and ask for 
the grace of contrition. 

II. That hope may not degenerate into presumption, we 
should consider that the good thief has, it is true, been 
converted and saved by a strong gift of grace, which Jesus 
Christ has merited for him. But, on his side, he has also 
faithfully cooperated with this grace. Being crucified, and 
having only his heart and tongue at liberty, he has made a 
most religious use of both the one -and the other, by exer- 
cising toward Jesus Christ faith, hope and charity, at a 
time when circumstances are such that, if he has interior 
light to know Him to be God, exterior appearances repre- 
sent Him to be merely Man, and the most abject of men. 

Again, the good thief has not delayed to correspond with 
the divine vocation, till the last hour of his life ; but at the 
first, at the very hour in which he felt the impulse of grace, 
he yielded. Hence, he is not to be imitated in waiting until 
death to give oneself to God. For how many has a false 
hope like this been a deception ! But in the other point of 
obeying the divine call without delay, since every delay is 
dangerous, and the greater the delay, the greater the 
danger. 

My soul, Jesus Christ now calls thee, and waits for thee 
with open arms, desirous to offer His blood for thee to His 
Eternal Father with advantage. He calls thee from the 
state in which thou art, of habitual tepidity, not far from 
abandoning God. He calls thee to serve Him, in the prac- 
tice of virtue with fervor. Why, then, delay to imitate the 



486 JESUS PROMISES PARADISE TO GOOD THIEF 

good thief in his conversion, that thou mayest also imitate 
him in his hope ? 

My J esus ! let me never be of the number of those who 
neglect their duties and draw motives through presump- 
tion from the example of the good thief. I resolve to imi- 
tate him in his faith ; and I believe that Thou art my God. 
To imitate him in his hope; and from Thee, who art my 
supreme Good, I hope for all good. To imitate him in his 
charity; and I love Thee above all things, and I am ready 
with Thy grace to give my life for Thee. In imitation of 
the good thief, I will carry, for Thy love, the cross of 
those tribulations which it shall please Thee to send me. 

Here now, at this moment, without waiting any longer, 
I turn to Thee, my J esus ! with my whole heart, and with 
the plenitude of my soul I dedicate myself entirely to Thee. 
I repent that I have not sooner offered to Thee this sacrifice 
of my obedience, and through the multitude of Thy mer- 
cies, I beg of Thee to confirm in me what Thou hast 
wrought by Thy grace. Give me the humility of the good 
thief, to acknowledge myself for what I am, a miserable 
sinner. As long as I am humble, I may be assured that Thy 
graces will not be wanting to me. 

I shall repent of having neglected, through mere sloth, 
so many good inspirations which I have had, and I shall 
resolve to be exact in the future in accepting them; for 
they are all graces, and benefits ineffable. 

III. The crucified thieves are two in number. Whilst 
one is converted, the other persists in being an obstinate 
blasphemer. Both have been alike in vice, and they are 
alike in suffering; but they are not the same now in the 
disposition of their heart, and in their end. One is peni- 
tent, and is saved ; the other is impenitent, and is damned. 
One goes to heaven before Peter, the other goes after Judas 
to hell. Of the two, one alone is saved, though Jesus Christ 
sheds His blood for both. And since in the one who is 
saved we have to admire the work of grace, which power- 
fully moves him in no ordinary way, let us not inquire why 
a more merciful grace is given to one than to the other, J)ut 



JESUS PROMISES PARADISE TO GOOD THIEF 487 

let us adore the judgments of God with submission and 
learn hence to fear. 

This is a demonstration of what will occur at the Last 
J udgment. J esus Christ on the tribunal of the cross, where 
He is between two thieves, having the good one on His 
right hand, the wicked at His left, gives heaven to the good, 
and condemns the wicked to hell. This He will also do 
when He comes to judge the living and the dead. He will 
place the elect on His right; the reprobates on His left 
hand; and calling the elect to eternal glory with Himself, 
He will send the wicked to eternal punishment. Let us 
reflect on our conscience, and confiding not in ourselves, 
let us humble ourselves under the decrees of His divine 
Majesty omnipotent. 

Prostrate before Thee, my God! I venerate the most 
high mysteries of Thy infinite wisdom, incomprehensible 
to my blind ignorance; and whilst I consider, on the one 
side, my innumerable sins, I have great reason to fear that 
I am already reputed by Thy justice amongst the vessels of 
ignominy ; that is, the reprobate. But when I consider, on 
the other hand, my crucified Jesus ! the most bitter Pas- 
sion that Thou hast suffered for me, I have good reason to 
hope that I am destined by Thy mercy to be one of the 
vessels of honor, who are Thy elect. 

In the meantime, who knows whether I am one of the 
elect or of the reprobate? I fear and I hope; and this is 
the grace that I humbly ask of Thee : my Saviour ! keep 
me at the foot of Thy cross between hope and fear ; so that 
hope may not make me vain, nor fear discourage me. Let 
humility confirm me in charity toward Thee and my neigh- 
bor. I fear Thee, my Judge; and I love Thee, my 
Father ; I confide in Thee, that Thou wilt call me with the 
blessed, to Thy right hand. 

I shall reject as diabolical thoughts regarding predestina- 
tion, which cause me anxiety. Our Lord God never 
troubles, but consoles, and especially consoles the humble. 



488 BLESSED VIRGIN AT FOOT OF THE CROSS 



CHAPTER LXIX. 

THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY AT THE FOOT OF THE CROSS. 

I. The Jews having ceased to afflict Jesus Christ with 
so many torments and so many insults, a new sorrow comes 
upon Him, which may be believed to be the most painful of 
all. This is the sight of His most holy Mother, who stands 
near, opposite the cross. But it can not be understood how 
much J esus suffers in seeing Mary at the foot of His cross, 
if it is not comprehended how much Mary suffers in seeing 
Jesus crucified. Mary, who loves Jesus beyond the love of 
all mothers, suffers in her soul all that Jesus suffers in His 
body; and also by the union of their hearts all that He 
suffers in His Heart. Hence it is that as Jesus sees the 
immense grief of His Mother, an immense load of fresh 
grief, by means of His eyes, is heaped upon Him. 

The eyes of the Son and of the Mother meet; and here 
thou must stop, my soul, fixing the glances of thy mind 
alternately, first upon this Son, then upon this Mother. 
What is Mary's grief on beholding Jesus, the blessed fruit 
of her womb, so afflicted ! What sorrow is that of J esus to 
behold His dear and immaculate Mother Mary in such sor- 
row ! Jesus is the cross and the grief of Mary ; Mary is the 
cross and the grief of Jesus. But let us not waste time in 
merely calling up tender affections, but let us reflect ; what 
is the cause of the sorrows of this Son, and of this Mother ? 
It is our sins that have caused the Passion of Jesus ; and, 
consequently, the same have also occasioned the grief of 
Mary. 

Ah ! would that it were not, as too truly it is ! I feel my- 
self compelled by faith and conscience to confess the' truth, 
that all the wounds Thou hast in Thy body, Jesus ! all 
the wounds thou hast in thy soul, Mary ! have been in- 
flicted through me, and by my fault. Who then more than 
I ought to have feelings of grief and compassion for you? 
And yet, miserable and unhappy that I am, in meditating 
on your sorrows, how dry and cold am I, as if I were a 
statue of wood or plaster. My soul, why art thou so har- 



BLESSED VIRGIN AT FOOT OF THE CROSS 489 



dened as not to have any sense of compassion for this Man- 
God and His Mother in their anguish ? Mary, Mother of 
mercy ! I turn to thee to implore thy most merciful protec- 
tion, that I may be heard in the desire I have for sincere 
grief and compassion for thy passion and that of Thy Son, 
and of contrition and detestation of my sins. Juxta crucem 
tecum stare, et me tibi sociare in planctu desidero. 1 

The most blessed Virgin has offered her sorrows to the 
Eternal Father, begging of Him to render efficacious for 
me the sufferings of her Son. I shall recommend myself 
to her to be made worthy to partake in the fruit of His 
merits. 

II. Whilst Jesus makes Himself known as Man by His 
filial affection toward His Mother, He shows Himself to 
be more than Man by the admirable tranquillity which He 
preserves in the depths of His sorrows. Let us observe how 
calmly on the cross He makes His testament. After leav- 
ing to His enemies the fervor of His prayers, and to the 
good thief Paradise, He leaves to Mary His beloved Apostle 
St. John, as a son, and to St. John as a mother, His own 
beloved Mother Mary. Let us likewise observe Mary, who, 
whilst she shows herself a woman by her maternal affection 
for her Son, also shows herself superior to her sex by the 
fortitude with which she bears the heavy load of her sor- 
rows. She conducts herself as a mother, but with virtue 
worthy of the Mother of God. Her grief is most acute, 
and yet with what modesty and decorum she suffers, with- 
out giving the least mark of uneasiness or disturbance ! 

This is to have a will resigned to the divine Will. Jesus 
Christ wills nothing but what the Eternal Father wills ; 
that is, the salvation of the world ; and as Mary wills noth- 
ing else, hence it is that her mind is tranquil, though her 
natural sense is afflicted. It is in this resignation that 
happiness and perfection are found. Whence comes it, that 
from time to time I am interiorly disturbed and uneasy? 
Because I do not will all that God wills. 

(!) Mine with thee be that sad station, there to watch the 
great Salvation, — Plaint of Our Blessed Lady. 



490 BLESSED VIRGIN AT FOOT OF THE GROSS 

J esus ! Mary ! what misery is mine, to know my 
disease, to have a sweet and easy remedy, and not to choose 
to apply it? Oh, if in all things I allowed myself to be 
guided by the divine Will, and were resigned to His most 
wise dispensations, who would spend happier days in this 
life than I, by reason of the interior peace I should enjoy, 
and the firm hope I should have of a blessed eternity ? 

In future, I shall do this, and in adversities I shall adore 
with submission the divine Will. Though in certain things 
sense experiences repugnance, I shall reflect that God thus 
wills or thus ordains, and I will quickly humble myself, and 
be consoled by the thought that the divine Will is accom- 
plished, not mine. This is my resolution ; and since my will 
is inconstant, and allows itself to be turned about by my 
blind, insolent, and rebellious self-love, I beg of Thee, 
Eternal Father ! through the merits of J esus and Mary, to 
unite me so closely to Thy holy will by Thy grace that no 
creature in the world may ever be able to separate me 
from it. 

1 shall watch over myself, and every time that I perceive 
myself perturbed about anything, I shall blame nothing 
but my self-love ; and I shall recover interior peace by re- 
signing myself to the will of God. 

III. Let us consider Jesus Christ dividing the offices of 
piety between His beloved Mother and His beloved Apostle. 
He recommends St. John to Mary, that she may take him 
for her son; and to St. John He recommends Mary, that 
he may look upon her as his Mother. He would say : " By 
My death, you lose, Mary ! your Son ; but behold ! I leave 
you another in My place. You lose, J ohn ! your Father, 
but behold ! I leave you in My stead My Mother." To Mary 
it is a comfort to see the care that Jesus crucified has of 
her ; but also what is her grief to see assigned to her, in ex- 
change for the true God, a mere man ! In like manner, it 
is an honor to St. John to have given to him the Mother of 
God, for his Mother ; but what is his grief also to be de- 
prived of such a Father ! Oh, sweet bitterness ! Oh, bitter 
sweetness ! 



BLESSED VIRGIN AT FOOT OF THE CROSS 491 

Let us reflect that when Mary is given to St. John for a 
Mother, she is given for a Mother to us too, who are repre- 
sented in the person of the holy Apostle. And as St. John 
was given to Mary for a son, so to the same Mother we also 
are given for children. Our true Mother is Mary, who gave 
birth to us spiritually at the foot of 'the cross, as she gave 
birth corporally in the stable to Jesus Christ ; and who has 
undergone for us on Calvary those pains of childbirth, 
which she did not feel at Bethlehem. What a prodigy that 
a Virgin, remaining a Virgin, should become the fruitful 
Mother of so many children at one single birth ! And what 
joy for us to have the Mother of God for our Mother! 

Jesus ! most affectionate Father ! what shall I render 
Thee for having left me for a Mother Thy most holy 
Mother? This is a benefit which the more I reflect upon, 
the greater I continually find it. For what graces may I 
not hope for from Thee, having near Thee Thy most holy 
Mother, who intercedes efficaciously for me? I am pro- 
foundly indebted to Thee, my Jesus ! and to correspond 
with my obligations, I beg of Thee, that, as from the cross 
Thou hast infused into Mary the spirit of a Mother toward 
me, Thou wouldst also communicate to me the spirit of a 
child toward her. 

Mary, overflowing with charity for me, I thank thee 
that thou hast deigned to receive me as thy child. Not- 
withstanding my vileness and unworthiness, I accept thee 
as a Mother, with most humble reverence, and beg of thee 
to be a Mother to me, without regard to my demerits. 
Show thyself a Mother to me by obtaining for me in my 
necessities those graces which thou seest will be most suita- 
ble and available for my salvation. Obtain for me the 
grace of true devotion, with which I may comport myself 
as becomes thy child. 

1 will be diligent in my devotions to the Blessed Virgin, 
and I will give her a singular satisfaction by loving chastity, 
in imitation of St. John, who on this account was the be- 
loved disciple, and deserved to have Mary for Mother. 



492 JESUS COMPLAINS OF BEING ABANDONED 



CHAPTER LXX. 

JESUS CRUCIFIED COMPLAINS OF BEING ABANDONED. 

I. After Jesus Christ has been three hours on the cross, 
when His spirit seems quite spent, and His breath failing, 
He is suddenly heard to cry out with a loud voice. He 
cries out, not as if He were transported with impetuosity 
or impatience; for amidst the bitterness of His Passion, 
His sweet meekness has never been in the least perturbed. 
But He cries out in order to make it known that the vio- 
lence of His pains, both in body and in soul, has now 
reached its height; and He cries out in this manner be- 
cause it is thus foretold in the Scriptures that the Saviour 
of the world before His death should make known to God, 
with a loud voice, His overwhelming tribulations. He has 
never cried out in all His sufferings. But at present that 
He is about to die, He puts forth all the strength of His 
voice, and exclaims, like a mother in the pangs of child- 
birth. 

Let us reflect, that whereas Our Lord became our Father 
when He created us, it is now on the cross that He becomes 
in like manner our Mother. For in accomplishing our 
Redemption, He has brought us forth to grace and made 
us His children. It cost Him little to be our Father in the 
Creation, but what throes of tormenting distress, like those 
of childbirth, has it not cost Him to be our Mother in the 
Redemption ! Now it is, my soul, that thou shouidst con- 
sider Jesus as thy most loving Mother, who has brought 
thee forth from His womb to light. He can not do less 
than have mercy on thee. Thou shouidst also consider thy- 
self as the child of His sorrows. For this reason He cries 
out so loud that His cry may be heard, and that the mystery 
may make more impression. 

my Jesus, my Father, my Mother, and my All, how 
great a debtor am I to Thy most tender mercy ! To Thee I 
owe my soul, because Thou hast created and redeemed it. 
I am, moreover, a debtor to Thee for Thy own soul which 
Thou hast given for me. And how shall I be able to satisfy 



JESUS COMPLAINS OF BEING ABANDONED 493 



my debts ? For that of my soul, I have nothing nor can I 
give Thee anything but this same soul. Behold here I give 
it up to Thee. Take it, for it is all Thine. But for Thy 
soul, that has been in such tribulation on the cross, what 
shall I give Thee? I find nothing proportionate that is 
worthy to be offered in recompense, and I can only pray to 
Thee : My dear J esus, who hast so abundantly satisfied the 
Eternal Father for the debts that I had contracted, make 
satisfaction also, I beseech Thee, to Thyself, for the debts 
that I have contracted with Thee. Grant by the efficacy of 
Thy merits that I may at least love Thee with the love due 
to One who to me is more than Father, more than Mother. 
Thou didst beget me, not to nature, but to grace; not to 
earth, but to heaven. 

I know that I can only please God by loving Him ; and 
yet I do not love Him, nor do I dispose myself for love. 
On the contrary, I offend and despise Him. Miserable that 
I am ! I shall make acts of grief, repentance, and humilia- 
tion. 

II. These are the words spoken with a loud voice by 
Jesus Christ : My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken 
Me? 1 In saying them He does not complain as if the 
Divinity had separated Itself from Him; because the per- 
sonal union of the Man-God has never been dissolved, nor 
has the Father ever been separated from the Son. He 
complains as a Man, as it has been foretold of Him, for it 
appears to the Humanity, afflicted in all Its senses, that 
He is abandoned in His extreme necessity, without help or 
.comfort. And He thus complains, that it may be known to 
all that suffering is no pleasure to Him, because He is God- 
but that precisely because He is God, suffering in Him is 
more painful, His pain not being mitigated by one drop of 
divine consolation. 

Who can understand the great mysteries contained in 
this cry of Our Saviour; a cry not of complaint, but of 
noble instruction? Eeflect, my soul : Jesus Christ suffers 
this apparent abandonment; that is, a rigorous infliction of 

(1) St. Matt, xxvii, 46. 



494 JESUS COMPLAINS OF BEING ABANDONED 

the divine justice, in order that we may not be abandoned 
by the divine mercy. He laments not for Himself, but for 
us, showing His wounds for us to the Eternal Father, that 
we may not be abandoned by His grace. He sees that His 
Passion, which is superabundantly sufficient for the salva- 
tion of all, will be useful to few. This grieves Him to the 
Heart to find Himself alone with His few elect, on account 
of the many reprobate, who will be such through their own 
fault. Oh, how deeply affecting to Jesus is this anguish ! 
But it is not so much over Him, as over us, that there is 
cause for weeping. 

J esus ! always sweet, and most sweet amidst Thy great- 
est bitterness, shall I too perhaps be one of that frightful 
number of the reprobate which has been Thy most bitter 
torment in Thy holy Passion ? I fear ; and my wickedness 
makes me fear. How many times have I deserved on ac- 
count of my sins to be abandoned by Thee, my God, with 
a real abandonment, both temporal and eternal ! For my 
deplorable tepidity, I merit even now this horrible punish- 
ment. Nevertheless, since I live attached, my J esus ! to 
Thy cross, I hope and I shall hope that there will be mercy 
for me. 

1 grieve for my sins. I grieve that I have not profited 
by Thy Passion, especially from my not profiting by the 
Sacraments. I implore Thee, my Saviour ! to assist me 
by the powerful helps of that grace which has been merited 
for me by Thee. Do not abandon me throughout the re- 
mainder of my life. Above all, do not abandon me at the 
hour of my death, that in life and in death and in eternity 
I may ever love Thee, and may be united to Thee by ties of 
indissoluble charity. 

I shall fear the divine abandonment. Who knows whether 
this judgment does not threaten me for the first sin that I 
shall commit ? Woe to me ! if I sin but once more, for to 
be abandoned is the same as being irremediably lost. 



JESUS CRUCIFIED COMPLAINS OF THIRST 495 



CHAPTEE LXXI. 

JESUS CRUCIFIED COMPLAINS OF THIRST. 

I. The bowels, the bones, and the throat of Jesus Christ 
being parched, by the violence of His pains, and by the 
shedding of so much blood, He says in a tone that would 
move to compassion, that He thirsts. In this manner He 
manifests not only the great drought that torments Him, 
but also His extreme poverty, as if He would say : Behold 
your God, who created seas and rivers, and refreshed a mil- 
lion Hebrews in the desert, to what a state He is reduced, 
not having two drops of water for His own refreshment, 
and being ready to die of thirst. And what is done for His 
relief? A sponge dipped in vinegar is applied to His 
mouth, that in imbibing it He may suffer mockery and 
torture. Who ever heard of cruelty so barbarous that to a 
poor sufferer, who is dying, vinegar should be given for a 
drink, and a single draught of water denied him, which is 
not refused even to beasts ? 

Have compassion, my soul, on Jesus, upon whom new 
sufferings are heaped until His last breath; and acknowl- 
edging even for this reason that He is the Saviour of the 
world, in whom are verified the Prophetic oracles, reflect on 
this word Sitio, which is short but mysterious. What 
does He mean, that He should complain of thirst, and not 
of so many other grievous sufferings? Let us ask Him 
with reverence, what sort of thirst is His. Then we shall, 
understand that it is the ardor of charity which more than 
all burns Him interiorly. He loves and longs for the 
salvation of souls, and after drinking of the chalice of His 
Passion even to the dregs, He says that He thirsts to drink 
with avidity another, even more bitter, were this necessary 
to save them. 

I admire, my Jesus! this thirst, which is caused by 
Thy most ardent love; and after exerting my weakness re- 
peatedly to thank Thee for all that Thou hast suffered for 
me, I now thank Thee for the desire Thou hast had of 
suffering for my salvation much more than nature could 



496 JESUS CRUCIFIED COMPLAINS OF THIRST 



bear. Moreover, I thank Thee for the immense merits that 
Thou hast added to the treasury of Thy Passion by this 
thirst. 

But how can I imitate Thee on this point; since suffer- 
ing is too disagreeable to my human nature, and I have not 
the least particle of that charity which acts while it burns ? 
My God ! who hast suffered so much, and desired to suffer 
for me, inflame me with Thy love, in order that in me a 
real thirst of suffering may be excited for Thee. Adversi- 
ties are not wanting in this life. What I require is only 
that loving willingness to suffer, which gives merit to suf- 
ferings. And who can create in me this willingness but 
Thou? 

I shall make acts of sorrow for having been until the 
present an imitator of the Jews, in giving Jesus Christ 
vinegar to drink, by my evil life. 

II. Amongst the cruelties invented to torment Jesus 
Christ must be reckoned this of the vinegar which is given 
Him to drink in His thirst. Let us attend to the mystery. 
His thirst is a thirst for souls, caused by the charity that 
inflames His Heart; and what astonishes us is, that see- 
ing, as He does, so many millions of souls that will be 
saved by His merits, all these are not enough to satisfy 
Him. He sees that the vintage to be gathered in the vine- 
yard of His Church will be plentiful, but He grieves, never- 
theless, that it will still be small, and insufficient to assuage 
His thirst, inasmuch as He sees that there will be many 
who will, in spite of His Passion, prefer to be damned. 

Eeflect, my soul : If Thou hadst been on Calvary when 
Jesus said that He was thirsty, wouldst thou not have 
willingly given Him a little water ? Know, then, that thou 
art yet in time to cool His burnings. He says to thee from 
the cross, what He said to the Samaritan woman at the 
well, Give me to drink; 1 but understand that He thirsts for 
thee, and that by making known to thee this thirst, He 
would wish, that as there came on the Samaritan woman 
a thirst after Him, the like thirst should also come on thee. 

0) St. John iv, 7. 



JESUS CRUCIFIED COMPLAINS OF THIRST 497 



Dost thou, then, wish to give refreshment to Our Saviour 
in His thirst? Thirst after Hini who invites thee to drink 
at His fountain of eternal life. Thirst after Jesus, who 
alone can satiate thee, and save, thee, and thus Jesus also, i n 
His thirst, will be satisfied with thee. 

Ah, my Lord! I am wholly confused, and I know not 
what to say, when thinking of the great thirst Thou hast 
for me, who am muddy water, full of mire; and when I 
reflect upon myself, who thirst for anything rather than 
for Thee, from whom flow torrents of blissful delights. 
Behold what manner of thirst is mine. A thirst of vicious 
concupiscence, a thirst of the flesh, of the earth and the 
world. And what else is this my thirst, compared to Thine, 
but sour vinegar ? 

Ah, my crucified Jesus ! give me that thirst which Thou 
desirest I should have; a thirst to imitate Thee in humility, 
charity, patience, obedience, and so many other virtues. 
Oh, happy me, if I may have this thirst for fulfilling in all 
things with Thee the will of the Eternal Father! Thus 1 
shall delight Thy Heart, give refreshment to Thy thirst, 
and deserve to hear, on the Day of Judgment, that sweel 
voice say to the elect: Come, ye blessed of My Father, for I 
was thirsty, and you gave Me to drink'} Eternal Father ! 
I offer Thee the thirst of Thy only-begotten Son; and 
through that loving desire which Thou hast that lie should 
be imitated by all, grant to me also the grace of imitating 
Him in this His holy thirst. 

I am determined to save myself. In order to save my- 
self, I shall imitate Jesus Christ in His holy virtues. This 
is the thirst that I ought to have, and I shall enter into 
details, making practical resolutions of such and such 
virtues. 

0) St. Matt, xxv, 34, 35. 



498 



LAST WORDS OF JESUS CRUCIFIED 



CHAPTER LXXII. 

LAST WORDS OF JESUS CRUCIFIED. 

I. Jesus Christ, having reached the end of His life, 
makes a public declaration that He has fulfilled all that was 
appointed Him to do, and this not in part only, but abso- 
lutely, without there being anything that He ought to have 
done, and has not done. He protests that He has executed 
the whole of that which divine wisdom has ordained for 
Him, all that which divine justice and divine mercy re- 
quired from Him; the whole of the truth and charity 
which had been laid upon Him in obedience to His Eternal 
Father. He had already declared that He had nothing at 
heart but to accomplish the work of God, which is the 
Redemption of the world, in conformity with the figures 
and prcrphecies of the Scriptures. Now He makes known 
that He has accomplished and perfected the whole of the 
Passion, of the Redemption, and likewise of the Law, for 
our example ; so that since nothing more has to be done on 
His part for our eternal salvation it remains for Him only 
to die. 

Oh, happy he who can say, when he comes to die, that he 
has fulfilled his duties, in the observance of a Christian 
life ! This is being imitators of Jesus Christ in His perse- 
verance, and it is to this imitation that we are bound, by 
being humble, charitable, and obedient, not in some things, 
or for a time, but in all things and always, till our last 
breath. For what avails it to begin a good life if we do not 
intend to persevere in it? It is recorded of many, that 
after having reached the summit of sanctity, they have 
fallen away, and gone headlong to destruction ; and as final 
perseverance is a particular grace, which is not given to all, 
who knows whether it will be granted to us? There is 
reason to fear; but there is also reason to hope. 

x\nd in whom can I more securely place my trust than in 
Thee, my crucified Jesus ? As to myself, I am aware of my 
own instability and weakness, that I am unable to keep a 
resolution from one day to another, and after having so 



LAST WORDS OF JESUS CRUCIFIED 



499 



often fallen and fallen again into vice in time past, how 
can I promise myself strength to persevere in virtue for 
the future? I place all my confidence in Thee, my God, 
my Saviour! I firmly hope, by Thy assistance, to spend 
my life in faithfully serving and obeying Thee, and I 
would rather die than offend Thee. 

Great is the grace I ask for, when I beg for perseverance 
in Thy holy service to the end. But I ask it through the 
merits of that unwavering perseverance that Thou hast 
practised in the endurance of so painful and bitter a Pas- 
sion. Thon, my Jesus ! who givest me the desire of a good 
life, strengthen me likewise, and so establish me in good 
that I may never under any consideration depart from it 
again. 

In order to obtain the gift of perseverance I shall recom- 
mend myself to God. I will trust in God, and shall corre- 
spond with the grace of God by doing violence to myself. 

II. From the perfect fulfilment of all that had been 
predicted by the Prophets, and by Jesus Christ Himself, 
we may infer, that as nothing now remains to be verified 
but the prophecy of the Last Judgment, that also shall 
infallibly be verified, and when this Man-God, crucified by 
the Jews, shall come in the majesty of a Judge, He will 
again say, Consummatum est! 1 The world is at an end ; all 
time is at an end. The time is over for doing evil. The 
time is past for doing good ; and it is now at the opening 
of eternity that a most exact account of all is to be given. 
Consummatum est! All is finished, as well for the just as 
for the wicked. For the wicked, pleasures and diversions 
are at an end; for the just, tribulations and crosses are 
over. Now is the time for each one to receive according to 
his deserts, eternal glory or eternal punishment. 

But what will take place at the end of the world will 
also take place at the end of my life. For at the momenl 
of my death all will be at an end for mo; the world, time, 
and the things of time. Consummatum est. Jesus Christ 
shall say to me, placing before me His holy Gospel and 1 1 is 

(>) St. John xix, 30. 



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LAST WORDS OF JESUS CRUCIFIED 



sacred Passion. Behold how on My side, I have done all for 
thy eternal salvation. Shall I be able to say, Consumma- 
tum est! as having corresponded, on my side, with His 
graces? Reflect, my soul, how hast thou spent thy life 
up to this present time? How hast thou kept the law; 
how the counsels of Jesus Christ? How hast thou applied 
thyself to prayer? How hast thou frequented the Sacra- 
ments ? An account must be given of all to the Crucified ; 
and thou, what shalt thou answer? 

Ah, my God ! in examining myself, I am quite con- 
founded, for I see nothing in myself but sins, and I have no 
intention either of detesting them or of grieving for them. 
What then and how much greater will be my confusion on 
that day ! My J esus, my Redeemer, my J udge ! I implore 
Thee both now and for the time to come to glorify Thy 
mercy over me ; that mercy which I have so frequently and 
so wickedly abused. 

It is true that I have spent my time in vanity and 
iniquity; but is there no remedy? I shall hope that there 
is ; because I know positively that there is ; it is to be found 
in love. There is no sin, however grievous and enormous 
it may be which Thou wilt not forgive him who loves Thee, 
and it is in this love that all perfection is contained. Grant, 
therefore, my God! that the little span of life that re- 
mains to me may be wholly employed in loving Thee with 
all the power of my mind and heart ; and thus at the hour 
of death I shall be enabled, to Thy glory and to my eternal 
joy, to exclaim, Consummatum est! All is finished; since 
the end of all is Thy love. 

I shall frequently make acts of the love of God. I will 
sacrifice to this love some particular passion, in union with 
the merits of the Passion of Jesus Christ. 

III. Jesus Christ, having drunk the chalice of the Pas- 
sion which He had seen in the garden, and nothing now 
remaining to complete His exact obedience but that last 
draught, which is to die, enters upon His agony, showing 
all those signs that nature is wont to give in one at the point 
of death. When, behold! all at once raising His heac( an4 



LAST WORDS OF JESUS CRUCIFIED 



501 



eyes to Heaven, with the same vigor of soul as if He were 
in perfect health, He calls on His Eternal Father. He 
speaks not as a man in mortal agony, but as the Man-God 
that He is, with a clear loud voice heard by all, even in hell. 

In calling God His Father, He declares that He is God 
the Son, on the point of returning to the same Father, from 
whose bosom He went forth when He came into the world. 
He cries out with an extraordinary, miraculous voice, as 
One who is omnipotent, that it may be seen that He would 
not die, if He did not choose to die, and that, if He dies, 
it is not through violence or necessity, but by a free and 
spontaneous act of His will, that He accomplishes by His 
death the sacrifice of His most precious life. On hearing 
the sound of this voice, the centurion reflects that it is a 
prodigy, unwonted, superhuman; and he confesses Jesus 
Christ to be Man-God. Let us also reflect : If the voice of 
this Man-God, now that He is dying, is so powerful and 
penetrating, what shall it be when He shall judge the whole 
world ? Break forth, my soul ! into acts of faith, thanks- 
giving and compunction. 

I firmly believe that Thou, my J esus ! art the true Son 
of God, and as Thou hast on the cross voluntarily given Thy 
life for me, so I by Thy grace offer myself, as prepared on 
every occasion when necessary to give my life and blood to 
confess Thy Divinity, which is an undoubted article of 
faith. I believe in Thee, my God! and I profoundly 
adore Thee and I thank Thee for that loving will with 
which Thou hast accepted death for me. If I am saved, as 
I hope to be, I shall be forever indebted to Thy death for 
eternal life. 

But how can I be grateful to Thee, now, my crucified 
Jesus? I read in Thy wounds the wishes of Thy Heart, 
that Thou desirest, not only to show in Thy Passion how 
immense is Thy mercy, but moreover to diffuse the swirl 
influences of this same mercy and to behold the fniiis of it. 
See, then, my soul at Thy feet, offering Thee will for will : 
that is, an ardent will to love Thee in return for thai will 
with which Thou hast so ardently loved me. Ah. Thou | 



502 



LAST WORDS OF JESUS CRUCIFIED 



who dost prevent me with so great mercy, by the same 
mercy assist me to make myself worthy of that mercy, to a 
share in which Thou art expecting me. 

I shall reflect on the graces and mercies which Jesus 
Christ continually grants me by the merits of His Passion, 
and I shall animate myself to correspondence, as a prepara- 
tion for the account that I shall have to render on the Day 
of Judgment. 

IV. The last words uttered by Jesus Christ with vehe- 
ment fervor are these, which have been already pronounced 
by the Prophet, Father, into Thy hands I commend My 
spirit. 1 But why does He say this, since His spirit was 
already recommended to God, by being inseparably united 
to the Person of the Word ? Let no one suppose that He 
recommends Himself through any necessity. He speaks in 
this manner to show the intimate confidence that exists be- 
tween Him as a Son and His Father. He speaks thus de- 
positing in His Father's hands the souls of the faithful, 
who are to be brought to life by His death, and who are one 
spirit with Him. He speaks in this way in order that He 
may declare that our souls are no longer in the hands of the 
devil, since He has consigned them into His Father's hands, 
thus at one and the same time instructing the Church, and 
leaving to us an example to cultivate sentiments like His 
at the end of our lives. 

Let us reflect how our divine Saviour, though burdened 
with so many sorrows, has never been idle, and has been 
pleased to assist us by His example and doctrine even to 
the last stage of His life. Therefore, with the same desire 
of imitating Him, let us beg Him to make us worthy thus 
to recommend ourselves also at the hour of our death. Oh, 
what a beautiful death, to breathe forth our soul into the 
hands of our God ! But in order to enjoy this happiness 
we must prepare ourselves, by resigning ourselves now into 
the hands of God, and conforming ourselves to His will, in 
our respective states of life. For what confidence can we 

(i) St. Luke xxiii, 46. 



THE IDE AT B OF JE8US CRUCIFIED 



503 



have at death that God will accept the recommendation of 
a soul that has lived without the love and fear of God ? 

Ah, my Jesus ! now it is that I must recommend myself 
to Thee, and to Thee with my whole heart do I recommend 
myself, placing myself in those hands which Thou hast ex- 
tended on the cross for me. Loving hands, that reject no 
one who comes to you ! Strong hands, so strong that no one 
can pluck from your grasp even one of those souls that are 
consigned to you ! To you I abandon myself, leaving my- 
self to be directed by you as it pleases you, in the conduct 
of my life. I know neither the time nor the manner of 
my death. It may, perhaps, be that I shall die without 
being able to say a word. To Thee, then, my Jesus ! I 
recommend at this present moment my soul, which is not 
mine, but Thine, purchased by Thee with Thy blood. 

Keep it in Thy hands, closely bound with the cords of 
charity that it may not escape Thee. Defend it from the 
infernal enemies who will endeavor to surprise it in its 
passage out of this world, and to throw it into despair by 
the remembrance of its past sins. Jesu, sis mihi Jesu! 
This is the prayer that I make to Thee now, for the hour 
of my death. Assist me by Thy grace, that living in obe- 
dience to Thee, I may thus pass from Thy hands into those 
of Thy Father, to whom Thou hast commended me, in com- 
mending to Him Thy own spirit. 

To safeguard myself from all danger of an unprovided 
death, I shall every day make the recommendation of my 
soul ; and I shall say with devotion to J esus crucified those 
words that He addressed to His Father, Pater, in max us 
tuas commendo spiritum meum. 1 

CHAPTER LXXIIT. 
THE DEATH OF JESUS CBUCIFIED. 

I. After hanging three hours on the cross, agonizing 
in body and desolate in mind, Jesus Christ at last dies, 
(i) St. Luke xxiii, 46. 



504 



THE DEATH OF JESUS CRUCIFIED 



He dies neither later nor earlier than that precise moment 
in which with full liberty, conformably to the eternal de- 
cree, He gives His assent to die. Hence, before He dies, 
He bows His head as if to accept the enjoined obedience, 
and with humble reverence to thank the Father, who is 
pleased to recall Him to Himself. He bows His head to 
give a sign for death to come, for it never would have come 
if He had not been pleased. Thus He makes it known that 
in His whole life He has never done anything by force, nor 
has ever suffered any pain by force, nor is there any one who 
can make Him die by force. He is in all things and every- 
where absolute Master of Himself. 

Fix thy eyes, my soul, on this Man-God, who is dying; 
and see how He, who on entering into the world was the 
most beautiful of all men, is now in quitting it, the most 
unsightly of all, having scarcely the features of man. Look 
well for the last time, whilst He is still alive, on the only- 
begotten Son of the Most High, immense, infinite in His 
adorable perfections, how He gradually droops and dies for 
thee — a vile little creature — who hast nothing of thine own 
but thine own wickedness alone. Art thou not horrified, 
and dost thou not tremble in thinking that a God dies for 
thee, moved solely by the love He bears thee? Let us re- 
flect with attentive faith on these words, " J esus Christ, my 
Saviour, dies for me a sinner." 

my Jesus ! what manner of love is this, that has led 
Thee even to quit Thy divine life on a tree for me? 
Though I am a most unworthy sinner, I feel myself ani- 
mated by this love to a very great confidence ; and it seems 
to me that Thou inclinest Thy head as if to give, in de- 
parting from the world, a loving kiss to Thy elect. I take 
courage and approach Thee with confidence, that Thou 
wilt not despise me in my unworthiness. Most sweet 
Jesus ! who hast no place whereon to rest Thy head, allow 
Thyself to be assisted, and be pleased and permit that I 
should bear it up for Thee and let it rest upon me. 

1 compassionate Thee in the most bitter pain which Thy 
pure soul experiences in separating from Thy pure body; 



THE DEATH OF JESUS CRUCIFIED 



505 



and since Thou willingly sacrificest the love which the soul 
has for the body, to the love which Thou hast for my soul, 
I implore Thee to assist me with those abundant graces 
that Thou hast merited for me in Thy last agony, that 1 
may continually grow more and more fervent in Thy love. 
Oh, that I might die with Thee, and for Thee, fastened to 
Thy cross ! But grant me at least, that until the hour of 
death I may constantly love Thee; and when it shall please 
Thee that I should die, may I breathe out my soul, de- 
voted to Thy love, in Thy embraces, to love and enjoy Thee 
forever and ever. Amen. 

I shall embrace the Crucifix, and shall make repeated 
acts of love to it, with the most intense fervor I am able to 
command, as if I were in my last agony, and that what I 
now do may be reckoned by anticipation as done then. 

II. Bending His head toward us, and raising His Heart 
to His Eternal Father, Jesus Christ makes His last most 
fervent oblation of Himself, praying the divine Majesty to 
accept it. On account of His "superabundant merits, He 
is heard and immediately consummates His death — His 
voluntary and most perfect sacrifice — breathing forth His 
spirit and consigning it into the hands of His Father as an 
odor of sweetness. Who is there that can fall asleep when 
he chooses, as easily as J esus Christ died when He willed to 
do so ? He thus shows Himself to be what He is, true Man, 
inasmuch as He dies; and Man-God, who dies because He 
chooses to die. He would not die, if He did not will it. 

But, my soul, should we be sad, or should we rejoice at 
this death? At the moment that Jesus dies, the divine 
justice is fully satisfied for the sins of the world; human 
nature is reconciled to God and at peace with Him; the 
New Testament begins to have force in the new Church ; 
and heaven, which was closed and could only be opened by 
Our Saviour's death, opens to us. death, replete with 
consolation for us ! But as we also know that Jesus dies for 
our sins, and that we are the cause of the ending of Ill- 
life, more precious than all the live- of the world, how in- 



506 



THE DEATH OF JESUS CRUCIFIED 



dignant, at the same time, ought we to be for having occa- 
sioned so great an evil ! 

Love and sorrow are the two things, my Jesus ! that I 
owe Thee. How then can I come into Thy presence, and 
not blush, since I am so neglectful of my obligations? I 
ought to love Thee, and I do not love Thee ! What kind of 
heart is mine, which is not touched either by the Passion 
and death that Thou hast suffered for me, or by the multi- 
tude of benefits which have accrued to me from Thy Pas- 
sion and death ? I ought to grieve for my malice, so cruel 
against Thee, and I do not grieve. What obduracy is mine, 
which neither breaks nor is softened by so much blood shed 
by Thee? 

Since I have neither grief nor love, I humble myself be- 
fore Thee, my crucified J esus ; and regarding myself un- 
worthy of Thy graces, I beg of Thee the kind permission 
at least to remain here at Thy feet to adore Thee and to 
thank Thee for the excess of Thy charity in having chosen 
to die upon the cross, Thou who art without sin, for me a 
miserable sinner, who am the vilest of sinners. If I do not 
love Thee, I desire to love Thee. If I do not grieve for my 
sins, I desire to grieve bitterly. Ah ! assist my desires ; not 
regarding my demerits, but Thy merits. I live in the con- 
fidence of these immense merits, which, in Thy death, Thou 
hast accumulated especially for me. Ah ! before I die, make 
me love, as I should, Thy infinite goodness, and moreover 
grieve, as I should, with true contrition for my sins. 

I shall consider it a bad sign to be so tepid and dry, with- 
out feeling, in meditating on the Passion of Jesus Christ. 
And as dissipation of mind and heart is the cause of this, 
I shall endeavor to obtain recollection in order to be filled 
with compunction. 

III. Let us contemplate Jesus Christ crucified and dead, 
under the circumstances mentioned in the Gospels. He is 
suspended by three nails in the air, and He has not in His 
most sacred body one single sense that has not endured its 
special dolorous passion. Although He is dead, He is still 
God, for the Divinity is not separated from His body ; and 



TBE DEATH OF JESUS CRUCIFIED 50? 

as He is an eternal and immortal God, reduced to the con- 
dition of mortal Man, and to dying on a cross for us, above 
all things His excessive charity must be pondered. It 
would have been a very great action, which, humanly speak- 
ing, nothing could surpass, if He had died to save His 
friends, who are the just. But He died also for His ene- 
mies, for sinners, for the wicked. He died to give life to 
those who gave Him death. Hence, how exceedingly to be 
admired is this charity so rare, superexcellent, worthy of a 
God, and truly appertaining to none but God! 

Let us pause to consider this point. Jesus Christ has 
died for sinners ; therefore, He has also died for me. I am 
obliged to believe this article of faith, and in proportion as 
my faith in it must be firm and undoubting, so my hope 
must be constant and unwavering. I commit a mortal sin 
if I do not believe that Jesus Christ died for my eternal 
salvation. Moreover, I also commit a mortal sin if I do not 
hope to be saved by His death. Suppose I were a sinner 
a hundred thousand times greater- than I am, what matters 
this ? Where is the soul so loaded with sins that can not be 
saved by the death of Jesus Christ? Precisely because 
death is an extreme weakness, our Man-God has chosen it 
in order to exercise by it an act of superhuman and al- 
mighty power. Let us, then, believe and hope in Jesus 
Christ; but let us also love Him; for if charity is wanting, 
neither faith nor hope will be sufficient. 

Jesus ! dead on the cross for me, I am indebted to Thy 
charity for my entire being. Why, then, should I not love 
Thee with all my strength, since Thou art my salvation, my 
hope, and my life? How can I help loving Thee, when, if 
I think ever so little of Thee, I feel the terrors of my guilty 
conscience removed, and my heart take courage, comforted 
by the sweetness of Thy unctions ? Dear J esus, dear J esus ! 
I render Thee thanks for Thy death ; and I love Thee above 
all things. I shall in all things endeavor to please Thee, 
and to labor for Thy glory. I desire to imitate Thee in 
crucifying myself and dying to myself for Thy love; as 
Thou hast been crucified and hast died for my love. But 



508 THE DEATH OF JESUS CRUCIFIED 

to Thee it belongs, my God ! to give efficacy to my de- 
sires by Thy grace. I desire that with Thee may be cruci- 
fied my memory, my mind, and my will. That with Thee 
may be crucified my thoughts, my affections, my senses. 

To crucify myself means to mortify myself, and to die to 
myself is to deny my desires after property, sensuality and 
honor. To put this in practice, I shall enter into the details 
of my own wants. 

IV. In His death, as well as in His Passion, Jesus 
Christ has made Himself known to be Man-God. Scarcely 
has He breathed forth His soul, proving Himself to be Man, 
than He proves Himself to be God also, by stupendous 
miracles. And after we have compassionated His distress, 
He proposes to us His Majesty to be admired; while the 
whole world is convulsed at His death. The sun is eclipsed, 
the air is filled with darkness, it becomes like night at mid- 
day, the veil of the sanctuary is torn, the whole earth 
quakes, rocks are rent and tombs opened. 

These are the signs of nature, which is conscious and 
declares to us that He who is dead is not a mere Man, but 
God. Although three are crucified, no one attributes the 
working of these miracles to any but Jesus Christ, who 
alone is known to be God. All had been already written by 
the Prophets, and He Himself had foretold that when He 
was raised aloft on the cross He would draw all creatures 
to give testimony of His Divinity. But, my soul, what a 
spectacle, that when Heaven and earth are moved to sympa- 
thize with the Author of nature, thou art still so blind and 
hard! Behold, admire and adore God, crucified and dead 
for thee, a vile and lost sinner. 

Oh, what a subject of immense confusion for me ! Thou 
didst not die, my Jesus ! for the sake of senseless animals, 
and yet the latter, at Thy death, gave evident marks of 
confusion and horror, as to make it appear that they were 
conscious of it. Thou hast died for me, to free me from 
the slavery of the devil and from the pains of hell. Thou 
hast died for me, to restore me to grace, to make me again 
a child of God, capable of inheriting His eternal glory. 



JESUS CRUCIFIED PIERCED BY LANCE 509 



And yet for Thee I have no feeling of humanity or love ; as 
though I were indebted to Thee for nothing. 

My God! I adore Thy mysteries; but if Thou hast or- 
dered that rocks should be split at Thy death, to signify 
also that by the grace Thou hast merited for us in dying 
the hardness of our hearts should be softened ; oh ! shower 
down these graces upon me, and give me a contrite heart, 
to cry for mercy here at the foot of the cross, and at least 
to lament my misery, that from Thy Passion and death, 
which are most efficacious in sanctifying souls, I do not 
gather the slightest fruit of sanctity. Ah ! if I had been a 
stone, when Thou didst die on Calvary, my Jesus ! my 
hardness would have been broken. Whereas it having 
pleased Thy infinite goodness to bestow upon me the being 
of man, who knows and understands, and can animate his 
own affections, I remain obdurate, and the contemplation 
of Thy death makes no impression on me. Have mercy on 
unhappy me, my God! Make me at least comprehend 
that Thou hast died for my sins, that I may bitterly deplore 
these sins. 

To obtain compunction and devotion, an excellent means 
is humiliation. I shall ask pardon for my tepidity and 
sloth, by which I render myself more and more unworthy 
of celestial favors. 



CHAPTEE LXXIV. 

JESUS CBUCIFIED PIEECED IN THE SLOE BY A LANCE. 

I. The Jews, thinking that Jesus Christ will not die so 
soon, request of Pilate that His legs may be broken, so that 
He may die suffering under this new torment. In order 
to gain their end, after murdering the innocent Victim 
contrary to the Law, they show themselves zealous for legal 
observance, saying that they have a scruple in leaving the 
criminals on the cross, through reverence for the approach- 
ing solemnity. Accordingly, a troop of soldiers comes, and 



510 JESUS CRUCIFIED PIERCED BY LANCE 

having killed the thieves with rods of iron, they see that 
Jesus Christ is dead, and they do not touch Him. How- 
ever, one of them, more cruel and impious than the others, 
thinking that He may yet he alive, to please the Jews, who 
continue to insult Him, though dead, pierces His breast 
with a lance. 

Here we must reflect, how the Jews themselves, by not 
breaking the bones of Jesus Christ, but by insulting and 
wounding Him even after death, fulfil against their will 
the prophecies long before made concerning Him. Still 
they are so blind and hardened by their own malice that 
they become even more infuriated against Him. But the 
charity of Jesus is enkindled in His deified body, though 
the soul is separated from it ! He beholds their atrocious 
perfidy, and has patience. By His graces, He interiorly 
calls them to penance, and expects them with mercy. My 
soul, is not this what Jesus has a million of times practised 
toward thee ? Thou continuing to offend Him by thy sins, 
and He continuing with mercy to bear with thee and to call 
thee? 

most merciful Jesus! now I comprehend why in the 
figure of the Paschal Lamb it was foretold of Thee that not 
even one bone of Thy bones should be broken. This was to 
denote that whatever Thy enemies might do to torment 
Thee and to load Thee with insults, the soundness of Thy 
virtues should never be infringed upon; and humility, 
patience, obedience, and above all charity, should in Thee 
be always entire and perfect. My omnipotent God, God of 
justice and mercy ! who breakest to pieces the virtues of the 
proud, who endeavor to maintain themselves by vanity, and 
dost defend and support the virtues of the humble, who 
confide in Thee, ah ! take from me pride which is so hate- 
ful to Thee. Grant me true and holy humility by which I 
shall be made worthy of being protected and safeguarded 
by Thee, and strengthened in all the virtues that are 
requisite for my eternal salvation. 

Establish, above all things, charity in my heart, to wish 
well, for Thy love, to every person that does evil to me; 



JESUS CRUCIFIED PIERCED BY LANCE 511 

and as it has also been predicted that every one that shall 
behold Thee wounded in Thy sacred side shall weep and 
mourn over Thee, grant that the prophecy may be accom- 
plished in me. Make me fix my thoughts on this wound, 
with sentiments of compassion and compunction, placing 
also in it, my hope in all my necessities. loving wound ! 
in thee I confide and hope to obtain the grace to become a 
saint and to enjoy that blissful glory that is prepared for 
the saints. 

I shall apply myself to practise humility, which is the 
means by which the bones of the soul, that is, virtues are 
preserved. Without it no virtue can exist. I shall con- 
tinually implore Jesus Christ to give it to me. 

II. Jesus Christ would not be wounded with the lance 
whilst He was alive, that no one might think that He had 
died by force from the violence of the stroke. He died pre- 
cisely because He willed it, and His will having been moved 
by love only, He has mysteriously disposed that His side 
should afterward be opened, that by this external wound we 
may enter in and behold the deep wound that love had al- 
ready made, with another sharp lance, in His Heart. 

See, my soul, how the point of the lance with a violent 
thrust opens His breast, is buried in it, and passes through 
His Heart, from side to side. See the wound on His right 
side, large enough to admit the hand. See His Heart also 
open, and enter mentally therein ; for the visible wound is 
made purposely that we may go in, and may comprehend 
the other invisible wound of love. From this wound of love 
have proceeded the other wounds of His head, His hands, 
His feet, and of His entire body. Why has He suffered 
the scourges, thorns, nail% and death, if not to satisfy His 
love, most vehemently longing for our salvation ? Ah ! is 
there any one that can dwell on the thought of this most 
loving Heart and not feel himself obliged to love It in 
return ? 

But this is not all. Since my sins cause me to fear, mid 
my vileness prevents me from approaching Thy divine 
Majesty; my Jesus ! how good Thou art, Thou hast bowed 



512 JESUS CRUCIFIED PIERCED BY LANCE 



Thy head, as if to give me a sign to call and invite me to 
enter into Thy Heart, and to show me that simply because 
I fear the enormity of my sins, and Thy offended justice, 
it is here that I may take shelter and find mercy, redemp- 
tion, pardon and salvation. How strong and how great a 
confidence Thy goodness gives me ! 

I come, my Saviour ! because in Thy wound I see the 
door open ; I come and enter in ; but I tremble with rever- 
ence, and I entreat Thy charity to admit me. Where in 
the whole world is there an abode of so great peace, tran- 
quillity and security, as in this Heart? What sweetness 
and joy are experienced in dwelling therein ! most lov- 
ing Jesus ! here fix my dwelling, and here keep it evermore 
in the tabernacle of Thy love. Most pure Heart, most sweet 
Heart, most august Throne of the Divinity, Sanctuary of 
charity, with all possible reverence I salute and adore Thee ! 
Thou art the Fountain of grace, by Thee I hope that those 
graces will be given me which are most necessary and effica- 
cious for obtaining eternal salvation. 

I shall acquire devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, 
wherein His will abides by the constant exercise of love for 
me. I shall grieve for my ingratitude, and shall make con- 
tinual protestations that I will be grateful to Him. 

III. Jesus Christ did not feel the stroke of the lance, 
because He was dead. But since all has been fulfilled that 
had been foretold regarding Him, it is now more than ever, 
that in Mary, His most holy Mother, is literally accom-* 
plished that prophecy, which was made to her by the holy 
old man Simeon in the Temple, that her soul should be 
pierced by a sword. The soul of Mary is in the Heart of 
Jesus by a most profound sense of compassion; and thus, 
whilst the cruel weapon passes through the Heart of J esus, 
it penetrates the soul of Mary. Therefore, she is more than 
a martyr, for she suffers in her soul ; and mental suffering 
is more acute than bodily pain. 

Mary has suffered immense grief in the Crucifixion of 
her Son ; great grief on beholding Him crucified and seeing 
Him also die. By love she was entirely in her Son, and she 



JESUS CRUCIFIED PIERCED BY LANCE 



513 



suffered all that her Son suffered. But the sorrow that she 
experiences at that cruel stroke of the lance is excessive; 
because it is a grief added to the other griefs, whereas in 
Jesus Christ it is only a wound added to His other wounds. 

Sympathize, my soul ! with the Queen of Martyrs, and 
reflect. Why is Mary afflicted ? Because she loves Jesus ; 
and because her love is exceeding great, exceeding great is 
also her affliction. "Why hast thou not likewise at least 
some slight feeling of compassion for Jesus? It must of 
necessity be inferred, because thou dost not love Him. 
my unhappy soul, in order to cause thee to conceive some 
degree of love for Jesus, neither His most bitter Passion, 
nor His most painful death, nor the stroke of the lance 
itself, which wounded His most loving Heart after death, 
will suffice ! But since thy heart is so hard and cruel, look 
well at His side. Jesus has willed that this wound should 
be made in it, because by it He offers thee His Heart. And 
will it not be an excellent means of loving Jesus to love 
Him with His Heart, which is also thine? 

consoling thought! In truth, my Jesus! thou art 
my Head ; and if the eyes of the head, because they belong 
to my head, are my eyes, shall not Thy Heart be mine, since 
it is the Heart belonging to a Head which is mine? I 
have never thought of this. But now that I do think of 
it, what happiness for me to have found a Heart with 
which, my Jesus, I shall be able worthily to pray to 
Thee and to love Thee! With this Heart, then, which is 
Thine and mine, ah ! grant that I may love Thee. Virgin 
Mary, intercede for me; for I am so wretched that I shall 
misuse even the Heart of Jesus Christ Himself. Grant 
that my heart may belong entirely to Jesus, as the Heart 
of Jesus is all mine. 

By the Heart of Jesus, we understand His loving will, 
and to love God with the Heart of Jesus, is to have a will 
in everything conformable with Him, and resigned and 
obedient to the will of God. 

IV. When Jesus Christ had received the wound in His 
side, there came out from it immediately blood and water, 



514 JESUS CRUCIFIED PIERCED BY LANCE 



by which, in the first place, He showed Himself to be 
really Man, composed of fluids like any other man. At the 
same time, He gave proof that He was God, by this miracle ; 
since however many may be the wounds given to a dead 
body, blood is never seen to flow from them, nor even 
water. This must be called a privileged wound. On 
which account, moreover, the Evangelist does not give it 
the name of a wound, but of an opening. Since it is to all 
of us, as it were, a gate of life which is opened in order that 
the Sacraments may issue from it — symbolized by the water 
and blood — to make holy Church fruitful of elect children, 
and to confer on the predestined eternal salvation. 

Oh, how great is our obligation to Jesus Christ for this 
wound, which, though it gives Him no pain, was, neverthe- 
less, meritorious in Him, as having been foreseen and ac- 
cepted and offered to His Eternal Father. From this 
wound came forth the blood of my Kedemption to satisfy 
the divine justice for me, and from it likewise flowed the 
water that sanctified me in my Baptism, and which has so 
often washed me from my sins by Confession. From this 
wound issue all the graces, benedictions and mercies that 
I can desire for my temporal and eternal happiness. 
most sacred wound ! It has been opened to me, that I may 
enter into it, as into the Ark of Noe, and may not perish 
with the reprobate, but be saved. But woe is me ! This 
wound will one day be again shown to me by J esus Christ ; 
and that perverse will of mine, by which I have refused to 
shelter myself in it, will be called to judgment. 

My Jesus, my God! I accuse myself now of all my 
iniquities. I repent of them, and ask Thee for mercy, that 
they may be forgiven by Thee as my Saviour, and may not 
be brought forward to be judged by Thee when Thou shalt 
be my Judge. Wash me with this water ; and ever more and 
more cleanse and purify me with this blood. I desire to 
enter in where Thou invitest me, and to take up my per- 
manent abode in Thy Heart. But how clean, how pure 
ought I to be, to dwell in that place of sanctity ! Eestore, 
then, to my soul, innocence by this water, and charity by 



Jesus taken down from the cross 515 

this blood ; so that it may be made worthy of Thee, by being 
made like to Thee. Through the merits of this wound, 
my Jesus ! succor me in all dangers both in life and at my 
death. In this wound I place my trust. If it is an effect 
of my wickedness and thus causes me confusion, it is more- 
over an effect of Thy mercy that brings me consolation. 

I shall not be one of those who think they have prayed 
well because they have prayed with some tenderness of 
feeling. May the fruit of the wound in the side and Heart 
of Jesus be that I may do the will of Jesus. 



CHAPTER LXXV. 

JESUS CHRIST TAKEN DOWN FROM THE CROSS. 

I. Jesus Christ is no sooner dead than the efficacy of 
His merits begins to be immediately perceived in the ad- 
mirable effects produced ; as the centurion of the troop that 
led Him to death, and the soldiers who were with Him on 
service, leave the darkness of heathenism, give glory to the 
Crucified and confess Him to be the true Son of God. 
Moreover, all the people who had assembled for the sight 
depart from Calvary beating their breast, for sorrow and 
regret at having taken part in so unjust a condemnation. 
In the place in which but a short time since they mocked 
and insulted Him, is now heard nothing but tears and cries 
of repentance. 

The women, who stood afar off on account of the fear 
they had of the Jews, now courageously draw near to the 
cross, to offer their adorations. Joseph of Arimathea and 
Nicodemus, who had been disciples of Jesus Christ in 
secret, while He was alive, glory in being of the number 
of His faithful, now that He is dead. All the multitude, 
who a while ago esteemed Him as a malefactor, now ac- 
knowledge Him just and innocent. Whence such a change ? 
Jesus is dead ; and it is after His death that His kingdom 



516 JESUS TAKEN DOWN FROM THE CROSS 

is extended and established in men's souls, which He rav- 
ishes by the mighty sweetness of His graces. 

Keflect, my soul, how so many of those who during His 
life had refused to believe both in His doctrine and in His 
miracles, now that He is dead, surrender themselves to 
Him with sentiments of faith and compunction. Do thou 
also come with them ; and though thy coming be late, Jesus 
Christ will nevertheless receive thee, as He receives all that 
come, at whatever hour it may be. And what is the mean- 
ing of this, that even now after the death of thy Saviour, 
thou art still so hard? Come with humility, judging thy- 
self unworthy of His graces on account of thy sins. Who 
knows but through this humility thou wilt gain all the 
graces thou desirest; since all the evil lies in thy pride 
alone ? 

Behold, my Jesus ! at Thy feet, a sinful soul, worse 
than the Jews or the Gentiles. They knew not for whom 
or wherefore Thou didst die; and yet they shed tears of 
penance at Thy death. I know by undoubted faith that 
Thou art dead for me on account of my sins. And yet 
where are my groans or sighs of compunction? What 
hardened wickedness is mine ! I can not say, my God, 
that Thou ref usest me Thy graces ; but I must say that for 
the graces which Thou givest me I am ungrateful and 
rebellious. And what woes have I not reason to apprehend ? 
Ah, most merciful Jesus ! overcome my obduracy ; take 
possession of me for Thyself ; soften and inflame me with 
Thy love; so that there may be nothing left, whether of 
vain fears or human respect, to draw me from obedience to 
Thee. Make me gather from Thy death that fruit which, 
until now, I have failed to gather from Thy holy Passion. 

I shall examine if there is in me any human respect, 
through which, on certain occasions, I do not dare to ap- 
pear devout, humble and meek. I shall conquer it, con- 
fiding wholly in the grace that Jesus Christ has merited 
for me by His death. 

IT. The most blessed Virgin fears that perhaps other 
soldiers, instigated by the princes of the Jews, will come 



JESUS TAKEN DOWN FROM THE CROSS 5 i? 

to take her most beloved Son from the cross, and to treat 
Him again with dishonor. Wherefore she begs Joseph of 
Anmathea to obtain leave from Pilate to take Him down 
and bury Him with becoming respect. He, therefore, being 
noble and rich, and a God-fearing man, goes at once with 
generous confidence to the governor's court, and paying no 
regard to the danger to which he exposes himself by in- 
curring the hatred and persecution of powerful people 
among the Jews, asks for the body of Jesus crucified. He 
does not use language as though upbraiding the unjust 
judge, nor ask for the body of that Man-God at whose 
death the sun had been darkened, the earth had trembled, 
and the rocks been rent. He only says with modesty that 
he means the body of that poor Man of Nazareth; and so 
he actually obtains the gift, and by this gift becomes truly 
rich, and he returns to Calvary. 

But before He is taken down from the cross, look well, 
my soul, at thy Jesus, crucified and dead, and see how He 
hangs naked in the air, mangled with scourges; pierced 
through His hands and feet with nails ; struck through the 
breast with the spear, and with blood flowing from His 
most sacred wounds. This blood is all the blood of a God. 
Consider and reflect, what mean these words, of a God; 
and this also being blood altogether shed for thee in satis- 
faction for the remission of thy sins, consider and reflect, 
that thou hast been redeemed, not with money made of 
gold or silver, but with the most precious blood of a Man- 
God. 

my Saviour Jesus, only-begotten Son of God ! was it 
worth the cost to pour out in this manner Thy blood for a 
vile and wretched creature? Since Thou wouldst have 
mercy on my miseries, was not one drop of that blood suffi- 
cient to redeem not only my soul, but the souls of all the 
world and of a thousand worlds? Why, then, shed it all 
even to those inmost drops which were in the midst of Thy 
Heart ? I know what was Thy intention. It was to make 
me know how much Thou lovest me. But how shall I be 
able to correspond with Thy love ? 



518 JESUS TAKEN DOWN FROM THE CROSS 

Although I should give Thee all my blood, what is this 
animal blood in comparison with Thy divine blood, which 
is of infinite value ? Ah, yes ! 1 understand Thee. Thou 
desirest from me not my blood but my heart. I do not say 
this my heart of flesh, but the heart of my soul, which is my 
will. And of my will Thou desirest nothing but that it be 
animated and inflamed to imitate Thee in Thy holy virtues. 
Oh, how good art Thou, to ask of me a boon which is of 
more profit to myself than to Thee! I am determined to 
imitate Thee; and I shall imitate Thee, my Jesus! in 
humility, in patience, and in every thing that pleases Thee 
the most. Thus I too shall find my own advantage. For 
woe to that soul which all this blood is not sufficient to 
warm to the practice of virtue. I will imitate Thee; but 
since my nature is weak, I pray Thee to strengthen me by 
the assistance of Thy grace, which is omnipotent. 

The first virtue that Joseph of Arimathea undertakes to 
practise, in imitation of Jesus Christ, is fortitude against 
human respect, not to fear any danger of this world in the 
service of God. I will determine to arm myself also with 
this virtue, of which I stand greatly in need. 

III. Joseph of Arimathea, having obtained the favor he 
asked of Pilate, returns straightway to Calvary, with his 
colleague Nicodemus, to take Jesus Christ down from the 
cross. Be attentive, my soul ! to observe how both of them 
first fall on their knees to adore the Son of God, then place 
the ladders, and go up, one on the right, the other on the 
left, to loosen the nails of the hands. They must use great 
force to draw those long heavy nails, which are thrust into 
the wood; but they succeed in doing it with reverence and 
gentleness. When was it ever heard that two gentlemen of 
quality went to remove a criminal from the gallows with 
their own hands? Yet these two feel themselves hon- 
ored in mounting the cross to take down Jesus thence. 
While our meek Lamb was living, He was left to be 
handled and tormented by all sorts of people, vulgar and 
impious as they might be. Now that He is dead, He is 
touched by none but noble and just souls, who vie with one 



JESUS TAKEN DOWN FROM THE CROSS 



another to do Him honor by their piety. In the Old Law, 
any one who touched the dead was counted unclean; but 
the Law is at an end. - He who can touch Jesus Christ be- 
lieves himself thereby cleansed and sanctified. 

The nails are removed from the feet of Jesus by Nicode- 
mus. Meanwhile Joseph embraces and supports His body. 
What a happiness must be his to press to his breast the 
Saviour of the world! All then come to assist; among 
them Mary, who receives the nails, one by one, and the 
crown of thorns, and her Son Himself, whom she supports 
by the shoulders under the arms, while Magdalene holds 
those feet which had previously been to her the means of 
such marvelous grace. What tears, what words of poignant 
grief are heard; especially from the beloved Apostle St. 
John, while the blessed body is wrapped in a linen cloth 
and laid in the bosom of His most holy Mother ! 

And thou, my soul, why dost thou not go and bathe with 
thy tears those most sacred wounds ? My J esus, I dare not ! 
Whilst Thou wast yet in the hands-of Thy enemies, of Thy 
executioners and tormentors, I too could take my place in 
that company ; but now that I behold Thee surrounded only 
by holy souls, who are admitted by Thee to a closer partici- 
pation and taste of the fruit of death, I who am the most 
wretched of sinners can not draw near. I adore Thee at a 
distance. I implore Thee to make me worthy to approach 
and contemplate those wounds, which Thou hast received 
for me in Thy most pure flesh. 

It is true that I am a most unworthy sinner ; but remem- 
ber, my Saviour! that by Thy Passion Thou hast not 
only merited for me the forgiveness of my sins, but Thou 
hast moreover merited for me sanctifying grace, which may 
render me pleasing to Thy olivine Majesty, and a share like- 
wise of Thy own eternal bliss. Look, then, not on my 
demerits, but on Thy merits. Sorrowful Mary! intercede 
for me that I may be graciously heard ; since I desire noth- 
ing but to be wounded in my heart, and to languish with 
love for Jesus ; as Jesus was wounded and died on the cross 
for love of me. 



520 JESUS LAID IN THE ARMS OF HIS MOTHER 



Having now elected to be crucified with Jesus, I shall 
determine not to quit, while I have life, the cross of morti- 
fication, in imitation of J esus, who was not taken from the 
cross until after His death. 



CHAPTEK LXXYI. 

JESUS CHRIST LAID IN THE ARMS OF HIS MOTHER. 

I. Mary, sitting beneath the cross, holds her dead Son 
in her arms. As to comprehending the vastness of her 
sorrow at this time, we may indeed apply to it our thoughts, 
with what earnestness we please. We shall never arrive 
at it, except by believing that this sorrow reached the 
highest degree possible in a Mother like this, the Mother 
of such a Son. As she surpasses all in grace, in sanctity 
and in merits, so her immense suffering is proportionately 
greater than that of all others. If any one could look into 
her heart, he would see in it, as in a mirror, all the wounds 
of Jesus, and also a veritable image of His death. 

Observe, my soul, this most afflicted Mother, pierced with 
the dart of love and sorrow through every point of her 
virginal breast. See how at one time she contemplates and 
bathes with her tears the head, the feet, the side and the 
other mangled limbs of her most loving Son; at another 
she kisses His forehead, His cheeks, His lips. Then with 
a handkerchief she cleanses His wounds and wipes off the 
spittle. Then she presses Him to her bosom with tender 
embraces. After which she gives vent to her grief by acts 
of love and compassion. 

She has nothing to console her, except the knowledge 
that her Son is dead for thy eternal salvation; and she 
will change her sorrows into joy if thou wilt indeed save 
thyself. What, therefore, are thy thoughts? Instead of 
fine words of condolence, Mary expects of thee works 
worthy of eternal life. What sayest thou? Fly to Mary, 
and she will give thee not only the graces thou needest, but 
the Author of all grace Himself ; that is, her own Son, 



JESUS LAID IN THE ARMS OF HIS MOTHER 521 



Oh, how much do I owe to thy charity and kindness, 
most loving and most lovely Virgin! As I look at Jesus 
in thy arms, methinks I behold the King of Glory on the 
throne prepared for Him, which is all mercy. And what 
hopes do I not conceive ? Ah, thou Mother of thy God and 
mine! I have never yet experienced confidence so strong, 
so great as that which I now feel to obtain the grace that I 
have come to ask of thee. Ah! at least let some little of 
that plenitude of love which overflows thy heart fall on me. 
The sword of that love which thou hast for thy Son Jesus 
has not only fascinated thee, but it has covered thee with 
wounds, and entered and pierced thee through and through. 
Oh, happy me ! if I too might be, however slightly, wounded 
with the point of this same sword ! Gratify me in this my 
desire, holy Mother of love and sorrow; because if I thus 
love Jesus, I shall assuredly be saved ; and in my salvation 
thou also wilt find comfort. 

I shall cultivate devotion to the Dolors of Mary, and shall 
excite myself to the resolution of -imitating her. Nay, I 
shall at once imitate her in the best way, — by making fre- 
quent acts of love to Jesus Christ. 

II. In the Old Testament there was a law, that if the 
body of a man was found on the public road, murdered, the 
ancients of the place should come and wash their hands 
protesting that they were in nowise guilty of the crime 
committed. Now we have found on Calvary barbarously 
slain the body, not of an ordinary man, but of a Man-God 
named Jesus, and we ask who is the man guilty of this 
murder. Judas indeed betrayed Him ; but he afterward re- 
tracted, declaring Jesus to be a just Man not deserving of 
death. Pilate has vindicated himself protesting his own 
innocence, and he will not have the crime laid to his charge. 
The Jews also have justified themselves, saying it is not 
lawful for them to put any one to death. Who then lias 
thus cruelly killed with so many wounds this young Man 
of thirtyrthree years of age. who was the mosl beautiful, 
the most holy, the most lovely of all men in the world? 

Come, my soul, and gaze upon this Son lying dead in 



522 JESUS LAID IN THE ARMS OF HIS MOTHER 

the arms of His most afflicted Mother. Canst thou, with a 
clear conscience, say that thou wast not the cause of His 
death, and that it is no fault of thine? Keflect with the 
light of thy faith, and thou wilt see that there is not one 
wound on that most sacred body which has not been the 
work of thy sinful wickedness. With the thorns of thy 
impure thoughts thou hast pierced that head. By thy 
licentious glances thou hast filled His eyes with blood. By 
thy immodest conversation thou hast embittered with gall 
that tongue of His. By foul, brutal pleasures thou hast 
covered with wounds His immaculate flesh; and by the 
depravity of thy desires, thou hast pierced through that 
purest of Hearts. Know, my sinful soul, that thine, wholly 
thine is the guilt of the Passion and death of Jesus Christ. 

I behold the immense evil that I have committed, my 
God ! Never would I have sinned if I had thought of what 
I was doing when I sinned. What terror I experience, that 
I can not look at Thee dead without acknowledging myself 
worse than the J ews, Thy actual murderer, the author of 
Thy death! I lament for all my wickedness, and I also 
grieve that through my culpable tepidity I have not the 
grief that I should have. Why does not Heaven strike me 
dead with lightning? Why did not the earth open and 
swallow me when I sinned? How canst Thou, Eternal 
Father ! still suffer me to live, after having been the impious 
assassin of Thy beloved only-begotten Son ? And thou, too, 
most holy Mary ! why dost thou not let the angels of heaven 
and all the creatures of the whole world, take vengeance on 
me, since it is I who have crucified thy Son Jesus, and 
have pierced with the sword of sorrow thy most tender 
heart? I do not deserve that mercy should any longer be 
shown to me ; and nevertheless, repenting of having sinned, 
I hope for it. The first token of honor that I shall give to 
my Eedeemer is that I will hope in Him for life after hav- 
ing put Him to death. J esus ! I adore Thee, I trust in 
Thee, to Thee I sigh ; and strengthened by Thy merits, in 
Thee I live and breathe once more. 

In order to refrain from sin, I shall make three resolu- 



JESUS LAID IX THE ARMS OF HIS MOTHER 523 

tions, and they are: to resist temptations; to avoid occa- 
sions of sin; and to mortify my passions. Of the most 
blessed Virgin I ask the grace to make them practical. 

III. While Jesus taken down from the cross is in the 
arms of His Mother, let us endeavor to make the mystery 
profitable to ourselves. Knowest thou, my soul, why He is 
thus exposed dead to be looked at and contemplated by all ? 
This has been ordered by the most high God, who would 
thus give us a demonstration of His tremendous justice; 
and it must be understood to mean : Behold what it is to 
commit a mortal sin ! It is an offence against the divine 
Majesty so grievous that the Eternal Father, to satisfy His 
outraged honor, has not spared His own Son. Notwith- 
standing the immense love He has for Him, He has pun- 
ished Him with so great severity. 

The decree of the Passion and death of Jesus Christ was 
already passed by the Ever Blessed Trinity from eternity, 
with the sole intention of punishing mortal sin. Since 
mortal sin is an offence committed against God by man, it 
could not worthily be repaired except by a Person who 
should be a Man-God. What an immense evil then must 
we believe it to be ; for when we speak of a deadly sin we 
mean a sin that inflicts so painful and so ignominious a 
death on a God. 

By the wounds of Jesus crucified and dead, the Eternal 
Father preaches to us on the enormity of mortal sin with a 
voice incomparably louder than He has ever done before, 
whether by the judgments that He has executed on the 
world, or by all the horrible pains of hell. Hence it is 
here, my soul, here at the sight of J esus, in this deplorable 
condition, that thou hast reason to exclaim: what an 
immense evil is mortal sin! It is an evil that should cause 
us more sorrow and fear than any other evil whatsoever. 
All sufferings, temporal and eternal, are evils of small ac- 
count in comparison with mortal sin. 

Eternal Father ! let this sermon that Thou deignest to 
preach to me have power, I beseech Thee, to penetrate the 
inmost recesses of my heart. To keep me from sin, Thou 



524 JESUS LAID IV THE ARMS OF HIS MOTHER 

dost use a thousand loving expedients; — promises, threats, 
benefits, chastisements. All these indeed are strong and 
obligatory; but there is nothing that compels with more 
rigid necessity of sinning no more, than the Passion and 
death which Thy only-begotten Son has endured for sin. 
At the remembrance of it, I ought to do nothing but weep. 
Will it be possible to remember it and wilfully to renew 
it by sin ? 

my God! imprint profoundly on my soul the knowl- 
edge that Thou now inspirest me with; and since of this 
Passion and death, which is an effect of sin, Thou hast 
made a most powerful remedy against sin, I pray Thee to 
give me the grace that this remedy may be powerfully ap- 
plied to me, and may be effectual as well for the forgive- 
ness of my sins committed, as for preserving me from those 
which I might continually commit through frailty and 
malice. I select for myself any suffering whatever of this 
world, and hell itself, in preference to mortal sin. 

1 shall, above all, remember the Passion and death of 
Jesus Christ, as a means to cause me to grieve for having 
sinned, and to safeguard me against sin for the future. 
This remedy is secure and easy; and if I do not make use 
of it, the fault will be mine. 

IV. Jesus Christ having shed His precious blood, and 
given His precious life as a ransom to redeem man from 
the slavery of Satan, let us think and reflect what there is in 
man of so great value as to be worth the blood and life of a 
God. Man, so far as regards his body, is a handful of dust, 
a bundle of misery, a subject of vanity, a leaf carried away 
by the wind. But having within his body a spiritual, im- 
mortal soul, created after the likeness of God, and destined 
to enjoy the eternal glory of this same God, it is in order 
to save this soul lost by sin that Jesus Christ has given His 
blood and His life. Of what value, then, must our soul be 
in the eyes of J esus, Man-God ! 

Reflect, my soul; and that thou mayest know thyself 
thoroughly, look well at Jesus, who for thee has poured out 
all the blood of His veins. Would He have suffered of His 



JESUS LAID IN THE ARMS OF HIS MOTHER 525 



own choice so painful and opprobrious a death for thee, i E 
thou hadst been a mere trifle of refuse, not worth caring 
for? What, then, did Our Lord mean by giving thee 
so strange an evidence of the incomparable value and 
love that He has for thee? Only this, that thou shouldst 
learn thus to regulate thy conduct that it may be worthy of 
a soul so dear to God. And since God has done and suffered 
so much to save thee, thou shouldst also learn by this how 
much thou oughtest to value thyself, and shouldst be thank- 
ful to Him, and labor with all thy strength to obtain eternal 
salvation. Draw a contrast between the immense efforts 
that God has undergone to bring about thy salvation, and 
the trifling exertion that thou hast made for the same end 
— thy own salvation. 

my most loving Saviour ! shameful indeed is my con- 
fusion on this account, especially, that, on the one hand, I 
see that Thou hast valued my soul more than Thy flesh, 
which being the flesh of a God was of infinite value. On 
the other hand, that I have valued more and loved more my 
sinful, worthless flesh, than my soul, though most deserving 
from me of all honor and love for its most beautiful and 
noble qualities. Senseless fool that I am! ought not this 
one reflection, that my soul is worth the blood and life of a 
God, to be more than enough to make me safeguard it with 
every degree of careful jealousy? It is no small guilt in 
me every time that I despise it and place it in danger of 
being lost. 

My Jesus, my God ! Thou hast often given me the grace 
to compassionate Thee in Thy Passion. Give me, more- 
over, some sentiment of compassion for my poor soul, which 
is in a most pitiful state. With what agonies hast Thou 
sought my soul, and this soul seeks everything but Thee ! 
Can there exist a more unhappy being? Ah, my Redeemer ! 
behold the soul which Thou hast purchased at so dear a 
rate. I restore it to Thee. I consign and recommend it to 
Thee, as a soul that is and should be wholly Thine. Take 
care of it, and by Thy grace conduct it to Thy glory. 

1 shall conclude with a will determined to love God, since 



526 JESUS LAID IN THE ARMS OF HIS MOTHER 

from loving God I come to love my soul and my body too. 
God alone can bring to bliss both soul and body. 

V. Let us once more fix the eyes of our mind on Jesus 
dead, and laid in the bosom of His most afflicted Mother; 
and after reflecting how enormous an evil is mortal sin, 
since a God has died to cancel it, how precious is our soul, 
since a God has died to save it ; considering, moreover, that 
Jesus Christ died to save us from the pains of hell, and to 
merit for us the glory of Paradise, let us draw the infer- 
ence, how great an evil then must hell be, since a God died 
to save us from it ! On the contrary, how great a good must 
Paradise be, since a God died to merit it for us ! Was it 
worth while for the Son of God to die to save us from hell, 
if hell is a trifling evil? Was it worth while for the Son 
of God to die to merit Paradise for us, if Paradise is a 
trifling good? It is of faith that to the one and the other 
of those two ends the Passion and death of Jesus Christ 
was directed. 

Keflect, my soul, what would have become of thee, if 
Jesus Christ had not died for thee. Thou wast without 
help, on the brink of a miserable eternity; and weighed 
down as thou wast with the burden of thy sins, thou 
shouldst infallibly have fallen into it. But Jesus Christ 
mercifully held thee back, and preserved thee from all 
danger. Moreover, when thou shouldst have been damned, 
He has assured thee that if thou wilt imitate Him thou 
shalt be eternally blessed. soul! reflect well on what 
Hell means, and on what Heaven means; and how much 
thou owest to thy most merciful Saviour. 

Ah, my Jesus ! what thanks shall I ever be able to render 
Thee for Thy benefits to me, that are exceedingly great 
and infinite ? Although I were master of the whole world 
and gave it all to Thee, I should give to Thee but very little 
in proportion to what I owe Thee. I know indeed my obli- 
gation, which is to love Thee with all the powers of my 
heart; and I know that with this Thou wouldst be content. 
But who besides Thyself can infuse holy love into me? 
Thou who preventest me by exciting in me the desire to love 



JESUS LAID IN THE ARMS OF HIS MOTHER 507 

Thee, fulfil also in me this same desire; so that 1 may 
effectually love Thee; and love Thee with all the love that 
Thou desirest of me. 

The one requisite for escaping hell and gaining heaven 
is this love. How wrong then I am, and how grievously I 
deceive myself when I lose hope, and imagine it too difficult 
a thing to obtain salvation ! What can be easier than this, 
through the merits of the Man-God dead upon the cross 
for me? Look again and again, soul, at Thy Lord 
Jesus Christ, and learn of Him. He has given Himself 
entirely for thee, in order to facilitate thy eternal salvation. 
If thou wilt lovingly give thyself wholly for Him, nothing 
more is demanded, therefore thou wilt be saved. 

In order that my love may not consist in words alone, I 
shall do my utmost to imitate Jesus Christ ; since on this 
imitation all depends. He who shall imitate Him will be 
saved. He who shall refuse to imitate Him will be damned. 



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Century to the Outbreak of the Religious Revolt. By the Rev. Wm. Stang. 
Paper, net, o 25 
GUIDE FOR SACRISTANS and Others Having Charge of the Altar and Sanc- 
tuary. By a Member of an Altar Society. net, 075 
HYMN-BOOK OF SUNDAY-SCHOOL COMPANION. o 35 
HOW TO GET ON. By Rev. Bernard Feeney. i 00 
LITTLE FOLKS' ANNUAL. 0.10; per 100, 7 so 
READINGS AND RECITATIONS FOR JUNIORS. O'Grady. net, o 50 
SELECT RECITATIONS FOR CATHOLIC SCHOOLS AND ACADEMIES. 

By Eleanor O'Grady. i oo 

STATISTICS CONCERNING EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES. Hedges. 

o 10 

SURSUM CORDA. Hymns. Cloth, 0.25 ; per 100, 1500 
Paper, 0.15; per 100, 10 00 

SURSUM CORDA. With English and German Text. o 45 

PRAYER-BOOKS. 

Benziger Brothers publish the most complete line of prayer-books in this 
country, embracing 

Prayer-books for Children. 

Prayer-books for First Communicants. 

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Catalogue will be sent free on application. 

SCHOOL BOOKS. K 

Benziger Brothers' school text-books are considered to be the finest published. 
They embrace _ • . _ , 

New Century Catholic Readers. Illustrations in Colors. 

Catholic Natural Readers. 

Catechisms. 

History. 

Grammars. 

Spellers. 

Elocution. 

Charts. 



The Best Stories and Articles. 800 Illustrations a Year. 

BENZIGER'S AYftGftZINE 

The Popular Catholic Family Monthly, 

RECOMMENDED BY 68 ARCHBISHOPS AND BISHOPS OF 
THE UNITED STATES. 

SUBSCRIPTION, $2.00 A YEAR. 

WITH COLORED ART SUPPLEMENT 

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These colored supplements are real works of art and will be an ornament 
in any home. The size is 8^1 2 inches, suitable for framing. 

WHAT BENZIGER'S MAGAZINE GIVES ITS READERS. 

1. Fifty complete stories by the best writers — equal to a book of 300 pages selling 

at $1.25. 

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events, times, places, important industries. 

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This is what is given in a single year of Benziger's Magazine. 

BENZIGER BROTHERS, 

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